1
25
1
-
https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/45914/archive/files/37ef96ac275c2e642891f516cb6e1667.pdf?Expires=1712793600&Signature=Bm37zZzBWdGk6uurYh-XOcIEC8RZOJdvLdrD5%7EdkrGDS53np7sG8AsMUb61YKLK%7Et4tJb6O1HWrPbNRaUfWCB7k%7Ef-H5-FF1aDsQ9kTNZ9D7Bmb7qoUaI6-F9u1WhKpTdJmIXb8q8EBVlNEXQ4T8xetc9YtvwcokgWuZQoGFaLpFVb3mo7S8S3zMkZ5VQnuNJ5YrmepMjFUanJIpW8RB88mqkRBhrCxbuxy55tWN2Hzs-TJvkmQ26WTKY%7E6Q9AsZjA%7EQFmg76ZMr%7EsOe2Wq3gAD0Nt9eiqoPgGFf158U6VXxq9dXvV2%7EfqTGwvqx9sZ18K1UYADz5v8RzQgcPgQ0Ug__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM
615f8a94d8118a90523e46c252bf7ae4
PDF Text
Text
COLONIAL
WILLIAMSBURG
SUMMER 2006
VOL. 27, NO. 2
We, therefore, your Constituents, instruct
you positively to declare for Independency;
that you solemnly abjure any Allegeance to
his Britannick Majesty, and bid him a good
Night forever.
Instructions to the Delegates to be chosen
for the County of Cumberland on Monday,
the 22nd Day of April, 1776, to sit in the
General
Convention [ The
Fifth Virginia
Convention] of this Colony
We Were There:
The Revolution — Their
In
Own Words
When a certain great king,
whose initial is G,
Shall force stamps upon paper,
And folks to drink tea;
When these folks burn his tea
Dating from the second half of the eighteenth century,
and stamp paper, like stubble,
You may guess that this king
sovereign in profile, a less than flattering image.
this mezzotint of George III (CWF1932 -101) shows the
is then coming to trouble.
Also in this issue .. .
Philip Freneau, 1752 - 1832)
Uncommon Merit': Edmund Dickinson in the
Letter of October 1777 from John Page of
3
American Revolution" by E. Wright
Williamsburg to General George Weedon on
Arts & Mysteries— Humphrey Harwood:
news of the surrender of British General Bur-
Builder of the Original `Revolutionary City'
goyne at the Battle of Saratoga:
by J. Whitehead
You relate the Battle with Burgoyne....
We
have had a Feu de Joye from our Troops,
12
Patrick Henry: First Governor of the
14
Commonwealth" by M. Couvillon
Bothy' s Mould —Tall Tales: A Cultural History
ringing of Bells and a grand Illumination,
and tho' it is now past 10 at Night the
People are shouting and firing in Platoons
of North American Trees ( Part 1)"
I have been obliged
to go down into the Streets and prevent a
about the Streets....
Cook' s Corner —Coffeehouses: The Starbucks
21
of the Eighteenth Century" by L. Arnold
24
Q & A" by B. Doares
27
New at Rock" by J. Clark
New at Rock —Special Collections" by G. Yetter
to cease firing —who drunk as a Lord had
been endeaving to imitate a Cannon.
From the Journal of Henry Hamilton after his
capture at Vincennes by George Rogers Clark.
29
Excerpt from June 16, 1779, the day he arrived
in Williamsburg:
1
18
by W. Greene
Riot and to prevail on my Neighbor Lenox
HA 06 5334792 Interpreter- Summed
10
William and Arthur Lee, America's First Spies"
Editor' s Notes"
0
30
6/ 30/06
4:07: 15 PM
�INN
2
The Colonial Williamsburg Interpreter
At the Jail we were received by the Jailer
Peter Pelham],
Military Journal of Major Ebenezer Denny .. .
a character, however
with an Introduction Memoir:
beneath other peoples notice, which soon
1781] Sept. 1st. Army encamped on the
bank of James river —part of French fleet,
called our attention, and which I shall
touch upon elsewhere.
with troops on board, in view. Recrossed
The opening and shutting doors and bar-
James river and encamped at Williamsburg.
rier, unbolting some Cells, and giving
Army in high spirits — reinforcements
directions in an authoritative voice per-
ing on.
haps were designed to appall us poor
14th. General Washington arrived; our brigade was paraded to receive him; he rode
Devils, and bring us to a due sense of
our situation —my reflections were by no
means tranquill, but curiosity with a large
along the line— quarters in Williamsburg.
15th. Officers all pay their respects to the
Commander -in- chief; go in a body; those
who are not personally known, their names
given by General Hand and General
Wayne. He stands in the door, takes every
man by the hand —the officers all pass in,
receiving his salute and shake. This the first
share of indignation rose to the surface in
turns —We
traversed a small court 20 feet
square, walled to the heighth of 30 feet —A
Cell Door was opend when the first object
that presented itself to my sight by a dim
twilight, was Mr: Dejean — which of the
parties was most surprised was doubtfull,
time I had seen the General. We have an
elegant encampment close to town, behind
but which was most affected appeared to
be the Justice, who burst into tears and
William and Mary College. This building
occupied as an hospital. Williamsburg a
very handsome place, not so populous as
Richmond, but situate on evenly, pretty
exclamations on seeing us in such a garb
and
condition — This
poor man had as
delicate a sense of danger as either Sancho
or Partridge [ literary illusions to char-
ground; streets and lots spacious — does
acters in the novels Don Quixote and
not appear to be a place of much busi-
Tom Jones] and now Gibbetts [ gallows]
and wheels [ medieval instruments
w
com-
ness, rather the residence of gentlemen
of
of fortune; formerly it was the seat of
torture] presented themselves to his fancy
ti
government and Dunmore' s late residence.
in all their horrors — The Jailer put us in,
A neat public building, called the capitol,
and having no further occasion for us went
his way —now had we a hot supper to sit
down to, some good wine, liberty of speech
fronts the principal street;
The presence of so many general officers,
and comfortable beds to lye down on, and
and the arrival of new corps, seem to give
our handcuffs taken off, it would have been
additional life to everything; discipline the
a considerable alleviation.
But I had better proceed to tell what we
had, and it will spare the time of particularizing the many things we had not —We
had for our domicile a place not ten feet
square by actual measurement, the only
light admitted was thro' the grating of the
door which opend into the Court above
mentioned, the light and air are nearly
excluded for the bars of this grating were
from three to four inches thick —In one
corner of this snug mansion was fixed a
kind of Throne which had been of use to
such miscreants as us for 60 years past,
and in certain points of wind rendered the
air truly Mephytic —opposite the door and
nearly adjoining the throne was a little
Skuttle 5 or 6 inches wide, thro which our
Victual was thrust to us — It is not neces-
sary to describe the furniture, as such folks
This portrait bust of General von Steuben ( CWF 1959-
as were destined to be residents here had no
occasion for superfluities.
HA 06 5334792 Interpreter- Summer2
2
248) was drawn in Philadelphia and engraved in Paris
about 1789,
0
6/ 30/06
4:07: 17 PM
�MBE
Vol. 27, No. 2, Summer 2006
3
order of the day. In all directions troops
seen exercising and manoeuvring. Baron
Steuben, our great military oracle. The
the Baron and field officers of the day, as
they pass. Pennsylvania brigade almost
all old soldiers, and well disciplined when
guards attend the grand parade at an early
hour, where the Baron is always found
compared with those of Maryland and
waiting with one or two aids on horseback.
far superior either.
Virginia. But the troops from the eastward
These men are exercised and put through
various
evolutions and military
25th. Joined by the last of the troops from
experi-
the eastwood. French encamped a few miles
ments for two hours —many officers and
spectators present;
excellent school,
on the right; busy in getting cannon and
military stores from on board the vessels.
this.
At length the duty of the parade comes on.
The guards are told off; officers take their
posts, wheel by platoons to the right; fine
corps of music detailed for this duty, which
28th. The whole army moved in three divisions toward the enemy, who were strongly
posted at York, about twelve miles distant.
strikes up; the whole march off, saluting
Uncommon Merit ":
Edmund Dickinson in the
American Revolution
by Ed Wright
Ed is a journeyman cabinetmaker in the Depart-
ment of Historic Trades. Ed has uncovered more
information since he wrote this article. He will
w
update the Dickinson story in future issues. For a
footnoted copy of this article, contact Ed Wright or
Nancy Milton.
0
Back in 2000, when Colonial Williamsburg
purchased a portrait of cabinetmaker Edmund
Dickinson and related papers from the Mary Ball
Washington Museum in Lancaster Court House,
Virginia, no one could imagine that anything
more might be discovered about him. The his-
Edmund Dickinson' s watercolor portrait (front) ( CWF
tory of Dickinson's life would always center on
2000 -100). This object was given to the Foundation by
a few meager facts about his business activities,
former employees Harold and Margie Gill.
his taking up arms in the revolutionary cause,
and his death in battle in 1778. How wrong we
The research has encompassed all aspects of
have been!
Dickinson's life, from his family' s genealogy to
New materials have been discovered. Collected in archives across the United States and
the men with whom he served in the war. Conse-
quently, the space of this article cannot do justice
to the full range of materials and the issues raised
Britain, they are being brought together for the
first time. Letters, diary extracts, regimental
battle plans, land grants, deeds, wills, and inven-
by them. So it will be devoted to the period that
launched interest in researching him in the first
place: his military service in the Revolution. Of
tories comprise much of the material studied and
course, this approach flies in the face of ordi-
orderly books, muster rolls, pay receipts, maps,
collected. Still lacking is a document written by
nary biographical practice. Certain details have
Dickinson himself that matches the character of
been sacrificed so that important events can be
the one known letter that he wrote to his sister
highlighted. But plenty of evidence has come
Lucy in 1778. Despite that disappointment, we
together to make a timely, compelling story.
can now flesh out his life far beyond the simple
facts of "born, worked, fought, died." Above all,
For a long time, tradition held that Dickinson
came from Norfolk, Virginia, to Williamsburg,
he can be placed in the context of the extraordi-
possibly as a young apprentice under cabinet-
nary times in which he lived.
maker Anthony Hay, certainly later as an inde-
HA 06 5334792 Interpreter- Summer3
3
0
6/ 30/06
4:07: 18 PM
�MEM
The Colonial Williamsburg Interpreter
4
pendent tradesman. That belief has now been
in Elizabeth City County. Dickinson's elected
demolished by the discovery of letters written
from Williamsburg between 1739 and 1757 by
subalterns were First Lt. Charles Pelham, son of
Peter Pelham Jr., the musician and jailer; Sec-
his parents, Thomas and Elizabeth Dickinson.
ond Lt. John Quarles, who possibly came from
The information in these letters is supported
Yorktown; and ensign Thomas Herbert, who
by the birth records for five of the Dickinson
children in the Bruton Parish register. Adding a
couple of facts already known about Edmund' s
may have soon resigned to join the state navy in
life in the 1760s with new documentation from
son Jr., the son of Thomas Nelson ( 1715- 1787),
family papers remaining at the Mary Ball Wash-
the former deputy secretary of the colony. The
a higher rank.
Dickinson's fellow captain was Thomas Nel-
ington Museum has completed the verification
two officers commenced recruiting their com-
of the letters.
panies with funds supplied by the treasury. The
process went quickly, with both units certified
These letters reveal a family hitherto unknown except for their existence. They also
complete before the end of the month. Both
contain two vital pieces of information. First, the
men then received their commissions. Nelson,
Dickinson family was a local one. Edmund, his
older brother, and five sisters grew up as regular faces seen around the city of Williamsburg.
Second, despite the fragmentary nature of the
whose unit was certified earlier, became senior to
Dickinson. The units went into the First Virginia
Regiment, enlarging it to ten companies, with
Dickinson's the most junior.
parish register, we can conjecture a birth date for
In December 1775, Congress in Philadelphia
Edmund sometime in 1747 or early 1748.
Very little new information has been found
about Dickinson' s adult life in the early 1770s
while he worked his trade in the old Hay shop.
had taken the first six Virginia regiments into
Continental service. Their provincial pay and
rank ended on February 28, 1776, when they
came under Congressional authority. The units
His professional life as a cabinetmaker lasted
Gen. George Washington, commander in chief,
Virginia revolutionary cause, particularly with
w
then operated at the pleasure of Congress and
only five years. With the coming of the Revolution, his hometown of Williamsburg became the
political, military, and logistical center of the
Dickinson became a Continental officer.
who could deploy them as they saw fit. Consequently, just days after his Virginia certification,
Nelson and
the committee of safety spearheading the effort
Dickinson were
stationed
at
from there, aided by the civilian population and
Yorktown on coastal watch, where they remained
the coordinating activities of the county and
during the entire spring and most of the sum-
district committees.
mer of 1776. In August, Congress ordered two
Dickinson first supported the cause by providing material goods ranging from strong boxes for
Virginia regiments to supplement Washington's
the committee treasury to cooking utensils and
Lewis, commander of Virginia forces, chose the
provisions. His support continued even after
First and Third Virginia Regiments for the duty.
The Third got an early start on its trek. Lewis
Grand Army in New York. Brig. Gen. Andrew
he joined the military, culminating in August
1776 with a large sale of furniture for the Palace
recalled Nelson's and Dickinson's companies to
as the new state governor' s house, for which
Williamsburg on August 8 to join the rest of the
the Council of Virginia warranted him £ 92. As
First. Five days later, on August 13, the regiment
1775 waned, he also began associating socially
moved out.
with military officers who joined Williamsburg
Going by a route that included a barge trip up
Masonic Lodge Six, of which he was a member.
the Delaware River from Wilmington, Delaware,
Although no evidence indicates that he had
to Trenton, New Jersey, the First Virginia arrived
military experience before 1776, he somehow
at Fort Lee on the west bank of the Hudson on
impressed certain individuals
September 25. Shortly thereafter it joined the
Grand Army north of Manhattan, Washington's
in positions
of
power, convincing them that he possessed some
capacity for leadership.
On February 7, 1776, Dickinson was elected
forces having already been pushed out of Long
Island and the city itself by British troops under
captain of one of two companies of regulars for
Sir William Howe.
the York District, as mandated by the Fourth
Convention ordinances passed the
Great joy was expressed at our arrival," wrote
previous
Capt. John Chilton of the Third Virginia, "
and
month to expand the military establishment. His
election was a unanimous vote by the Virginia
Committee of Safety itself, which broke a dead-
great things are expected of Virginians." Indeed,
lock in the York committee between Dickinson
overall morale. But the sentiment did not last
and John Cary, the captain of a minute company
long. British pressure forced Washington across
HA 06 5334792 Interpreter- Summer4
4
the two units did not disappoint; their involve-
ment in raids and skirmishes boosted the army' s
0
6/ 30/06
4:07: 19 PM
�MEM
kir
Vol. 27, No. 2, Summer 2006
5
the Hudson into what became the famous retreat
Philadelphia by way of the Chesapeake Bay.
across New Jersey and the Delaware River into
Pennsylvania during late November and early
As regiments under Howe landed at Head of
Elk, Maryland, and the Continentals positioned
December 1776.
themselves to protect the capital city, the com-
mand structure of the First Virginia slowly reassembled itself. Ballard returned by August 26
Unfortunately, the character of Dickinson's
personal service in this
campaign of the war
remains somewhat vague. Participants in the
and took over command from Dickinson. Green
First Virginia's military activities were rarely
returned later.
documented. That Dickinson kept his health for
After Colonel Read' s death of illness in Phila-
much of the period is an important point. On all
delphia, Washington effectively gave command
the surviving dated rolls for the First Virginia at
that time, Dickinson reported fit for duty while
many of his fellow officers were falling sick all
of the regiment to Lt. Col. James Hendricks,
Second Virginia, on September 2. Hendricks no
doubt grabbed the chance immediately to com-
around him. He also rose in the ranks as his
mand the most senior of the Virginia regiments.
senior captains received promotions.
The First Virginia was now brigaded with three
By the time of the New Jersey retreat, when
other regiments under Brig. Gen. Peter Muhlenberg in the division commanded by Maj. Gen.
the First Virginia, like all the regiments, suffered
desertion and sickness, Dickinson was fourth
Nathanael Greene. On August 18, just as the
ranking captain. At that time, sickness may have
finally caught up with him. An undated return of
the regiment, commanded by Capt. John Fleming, listed Dickinson as absent sick. The return
armies were getting into position, Washington
reluctantly accepted the resignation of Captain
Nelson. Dickinson became the ranking captain
of the First Virginia Regiment.
was rather sloppy and contradictory within itself,
The opening phase of skirmishes and maneu-
but its statistics match those of the general rolls
vers between the opposing forces culminated
of the army drawn up in late December 1776.
If true, Dickinson may not have participated in
in the first battle of the campaign, Brandywine,
the raid on Trenton on December 26 or the fight
at Princeton on January 3, 1777, where a British
Howe' s superior tactics. But Greene' s division,
bayonet charge mauled a remnant of the First
w
on September 11. That day brought a stunning
defeat for the Continental Army in the face of
After the Trenton Princeton campaign, the
composed of the Weedon and Muhlenberg brigades, proved its mettle by providing devastating
cover fire for nearly an hour. It allowed Washing-
Grand Army moved north to establish winter
quarters at Morristown, New Jersey. Officers of
ton to withdraw his other troops in some order.
These two brigades would not be called " the
the First Virginia returned south to recruit much
Flower of the army" for nothing.
Virginia.
needed replacements. Dickinson's first lieuten-
After Brandywine, the cat- and -mouse move-
ant, Charles Pelham, was among them.
Dickinson himself moved to Philadelphia by
early February where he supervised the available
money for recruitment and may have worked as
ments continued, but Washington was ultimately
outgeneraled. British troops under Lord Charles
Cornwallis entered Philadelphia on September
26, sending the Congress and its support network fleeing to York, Pennsylvania. But Howe
kept the bulk of his army outside the capital at
a liaison officer to receive the new recruits, put
them through the newly mandated smallpox
inoculation, if necessary, and prepare them for
duty at Morristown. By April, the regiment was
replenished but still seriously undermanned.
Capt. John Fleming' s death at Princeton and
Germantown, and Washington saw a chance for
Capt. Robert Ballard' s promotion to major of the
dawn and drove both them and several other units
regiment that winter made Nelson and Dickin-
back into Germantown. Greene' s division, on the
son the ranking captains of the First Virginia.
Nelson departed for home on further recruiting
duty sometime in May. With Col. Isaac Read,
American left wing, pushed into the heart of the
British encampment, wreaking havoc on their opponents. It looked like the Americans would carry
the day in a major upset reminiscent of the raid
attack.
On October 4, after a night march into posi-
tion, the Continentals surprised enemy pickets at
Lt. Col. John Green, and Maj. Ballard absent for
various reasons, Dickinson took over command
at Trenton the year before. However, their initia-
of the regiment. He
tive faded in the face of fog, confusion, depleted
served as captain com-
mander for the remainder of the summer.
ammunition supplies,
Early August 1777 brought a new campaign.
The Continental Army moved through New
Jersey and Pennsylvania into Delaware to stop
a new British expeditionary force aimed at
stiffening resistance. The Continentals fell into
yet another retreat. This day, like the one at Bran-
HA 06 5334792 Interpreter Summers
5
and, for Greene' s men,
dywine, turned into defeat, and the troops moved
back to their main camp to lick their wounds.
0
6/ 30/06
4:07:20 PM
�MEM
6
The Colonial Williamsburg Interpreter
The First Virginia sustained several casual-
directions. Two additional small British ships
ties. Colonel Hendricks had head wounds, while
Captain Dickinson suffered a slight wound in the
came up the channel between Fort Mifflin and
the Pennsylvania shore. They blasted everything
knee. Fatalities included Capt. John Eustace and
with grape shot and sniper fire. The fort was
Capt. Joseph Scott. Others were taken as prison-
literally being reduced to rubble. No place inside
ers. The unit's strength was down to ninety-five
rank and file fit for duty. Their respite from battle
would not last long.
was completely safe.
Dickinson commanded the cannon battery that
faced the ships in the river. His men kept up their
Two weeks later, division orders issued at 11
fire until the bombardment became so severe that
p.m. on October 17 activated the First and Sixth
they had to abandon their guns and take shelter in
Virginia Regiments as reinforcements to the gar-
the ruins of the fort. Late that afternoon, Thayer
rison at Fort Mifflin, Pennsylvania. Five days later,
called Dickinson and the other officers to a war
the Virginians arrived at the fort perched on a
mud flat in the Delaware River below Philadel-
council that ultimately sent a message to General
Vamum in New Jersey: send ammunition or boats.
phia. It and its sister installation, Fort Mercer on
Vamum sent boats. No one could mistake the implied order. The defenders held out until nightfall,
then set fire to the ruins of the fort and evacuated
the New Jersey shore, combined with underwater
obstructions sunk into the river' s channel, effec-
tively barred the British navy from supplying its
to safety on the New Jersey shore.
The sun rose the next day on the smoking
army now occupying the capital.
British strategy, based on the knowledge
remains of Fort Mifflin. The British took pos-
that their successful occupation of Philadelphia
session of the island immediately. On the New
Jersey shore, Lieutenant Colonel Smith wrote to
Washington directly:
required full British control of the river before
winter, now focused on the elimination of these
two forts. The Virginians and their comrades
General Varnum will have inform'd your
inside Fort Mifflin endured a three -week siege.
Excelly of the Evacuation of fort Mifflin.
I am extremely sorry for the circumstance.
Major Thayer defended it too bravely... .
Capt. Dickinson of the first Virga Regt deserves much Attention. he Stay' d with and
assisted Fleury. he is a brave industrious
Sporadic bombardment from enemy batteries on
the Pennsylvania shore coupled with unseason-
w
ably cold weather and storms that flooded the
island made life there a living hell.
The British gradually strengthened their
shore artillery, and the navy broke through the
i
good officer.
lower river obstructions. Fort Mifflin's defenders
slowly weakened from constantly watching and
endlessly laboring to maintain their facilities and
It was a first class commendation. This letter
posture. Lt. Col. Samuel Smith, the fort' s com-
brought to the attention of Washington. It would
mander, his French engineer Maj. Francois Louis
Teissedre de Fleury, and all the defenders knew
the odds lay against them.
not be the last.
also marked the first time that Dickinson was
When the two Virginia regiments rejoined
opened an overwhelming bombardment on Fort
their respective brigades at camp, Dickinson
applied for and was granted extended leave. By
December 11, he was on his way home for the
On November
10, the enlarged batteries
Mifflin. For five days and nights the guns roared.
first time in two years.
The defenders could only put up a token return
fire from their own few cannons. Brig. Gen.
James Vamum, sent by Washington with two
Dickinson spent a quiet period in Williamsburg.
Connecticut regiments to assist the Delaware
Lodge. Word arrived from camp that he had been
forts, finally dispatched a full replacement under
Maj. Simeon Thayer, Second Rhode Island,
promoted to major of the First Virginia. After
on the night of November 13 - 14. Lieutenant
of the First and Sixth Virginia regiments, was
resigned his commission and left the fighting to
others. Many Virginia officers were sick of Continental army life and were resigning in alarming
ferried across the river to safety in New Jersey.
Among the original defenders who stayed to as-
bucked the trend and did not resign.
From late December 1777 through March 1778,
Only once did he attend a meeting of the Masonic
what he had been through, Dickinson could have
Colonel Smith's original garrison, with most
numbers for the feeblest of reasons. But Dickinson
He took an advance of £92 on March 27 from
sist Thayer was Capt. Edmund Dickinson.
Early on November 15, five British warships
ranging from twenty-eight to seventy guns came
Robert Nicolson, the Williamsburg merchant
minding his financial affairs in his absence. The
next day, Dickinson wrote his will, leaving the
upriver and opened full broadsides upon the
fort. Their continuous fire, combined with that
from the shore batteries, rained metal from all
HA 06 5334792 Interpreter- Summer6
6
bulk of his estate to his two unmarried sisters,
Agnes and Lucy, with small bequests to his mar-
0
6/ 30/06
4:07:21 PM
�1
Vol. 27, No. 2, Summer 2006
7
1
i
Edmund Dickinson, Camp Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, to Lucy Dickinson, Williamsburg, Virginia, May 9, 1778.
Dickinson Family Papers, MS 2001. 9.
HA 06 5334792 Interpreter Summer?
7
0
6/ 30/06
4:07:22 PM
�MI ••
8
The Colonial Williamsburg Interpreter
ried ones, Judith and Elizabeth. He then went
Dreams of the future were expressed.
back north to the war.
Such was the mood at Valley Forge when
Dickinson penned his one surviving letter, written to his sister Lucy on May 9. After announcing the news of the French alliance, he expressed
the feeling of every officer and soldier when he
When he returned to duty at Valley Forge as
major of the First Virginia, Dickinson found a
new colonel of proven quality, Richard Parker,
and a new discipline developed by the Baron
von Steuben for the entire army. Not only did he
I make not the least doubt but it will
cause a Peace before the leaves ( which now
wrote, "
have heavier administrative duties, he also now
served as the unit's tactical officer. Von Steuben's
are just buding out here) falls from their tinder
Sprigs." As the saying goes, everyone hoped that
the war would be over by Christmas.
On May 12, Dickinson fulfilled a Congressional mandate by swearing his oath of allegiance
practice required that all of the field officers
personally supervise the drill of the troops, not
leave it to the sergeants. Parker was anxious to
bring the First Virginia up to the new standards.
In Dickinson, he likely had an able assistant.
Dickinson also served Muhlenberg's brigade
by presiding over two courts -martial during that
spring. The result of one of them has survived:
to the United States. The printed form that he
filled out, signed, and swore aloud before his
brigadier, Peter Muhlenberg, remains preserved
in the National Archives in Washington, D.C.,
The court sentenced Pvt. Edward Price to 200
mounted in a small record book.
lashes for deserting the First Virginia and then
taking the bounty and entering into another
The Continental Army departed Valley Forge
on June 19, 1778, to pursue the retreating British
unit. Muhlenberg reduced the sentence to 100
force that had evacuated Philadelphia and was
lashes. The harshness was not unusual; Wash-
w
marching across New Jersey to New York. Once
ington believed in iron discipline to control the
Washington was across the Delaware River, he
twice detached units of picked veterans to harass
otherwise rowdy, camp -bored soldiers.
The broader army also commanded Dickinson's
time. He served as vice -major of the day on April
12, just after his return to camp, and full major of
the day on June 15, under Maj. Gen. the Marquis
de Lafayette and Brig. Gen. Anthony Wayne. The
duties primarily involved checking the guards and
pickets around camp as well as handling routine
administrative
and camp
matters
the long, slow enemy lines. The second detachment, three battalions commanded by Anthony
Wayne, left Hopewell, New Jersey, on June 25. It
included Dickinson in the unit commanded by Col.
Henry B. Livingston, Fourth New York Regiment.
After depleting their provisions during two
days of abortive maneuvering in increasingly hot
w
weather with no contact with the enemy, all the
upon which
Washington and others in the high command of
advance forces converged on Englishtown, New
the army could not spend time.
Jersey, by noon on June 27. There, the men rested
Washington made a habit of inviting each
day's duty officers to dinner on the day after
by Washington. Maj. Gen. Charles Lee took com-
their scheduled service. Thus, on two occasions,
mand of the entire advance force at this point.
and refreshed themselves on provisions sent ahead
Edmund Dickinson sat at table with Washington;
June 28, 1778, was Dickinson's last morning
aides -de -camp such as Alexander Hamilton,
alive. Lee attempted to surround the British rear
John Laurens, secretary Dr. James McHenry; and,
guard near Monmouth Court House in a classic
on June 16, Lafayette and Wayne. One would
pincer maneuver. Dickinson' s battalion marched
love to know precisely the food eaten and the
in the left wing of the pincer, which brought
conversation spoken on that social occasion.
them into a large grain field. The movement ex-
May 6, 1778, was a special day at Valley Forge.
The army celebrated the alliance with France, the
news of which had only just arrived at camp. The
infantry regiments marched and formed by bri-
posed them to enemy cannon fire that they could
not return, because they were beyond effective
gades on the Grand Parade where Washington and
cannonball killed Dickinson on the spot. He was
his staff inspected them. Then the units began a
probably dead before noon.
Increased enemy resistance and confusion
among some of his officers caused Lee to retreat
musket range. As the battalion moved to their
right to stop a hostile British flanking action, a
feu de joie, a running fire down the whole length of
the front line of the ranks and back up the second
line. Punctuated by ceremonial artillery fire and
huzzahs from thousands of throats, three running
west toward Englishtown. British troops overran
the area where Dickinson was killed and held it
fires were performed without a mistake, a testa-
the officers partook of a cold luncheon given for
for the rest of that hot, violent day. Both armies
exhausted themselves with vicious close fighting
and artillery barrages until dark. In the night, the
British silently withdrew from the area on the
them by Washington as host. Toasts were drunk.
road toward New York. Washington did not pur-
ment to the effectiveness of Steuben's training.
Once the troops were dismissed to their quarters,
HA 06 5334792 Interpreter- Summer8
8
0
6/ 30/06
4:07:23 PM
�Vol. 27, No. 2, Summer 2006
9
Congress will be pleased to receive a Re-
turn of the killed, wounded and missing.
Among the first were Lieut. Colo. Bunner
of Penna. and Major Dickinson of Virginia, both officers of distinguished merit
and much to be regretted.
The army moved to New Brunswick, New Jersey, where on July 4, it celebrated another feu de
joie in honor of the Declaration of Independence.
Still pondering the Monmouth battle, Washington wrote to Virginia govemor Patrick Henry:
We lost but two Officers of Rank Lt. Col.
Bonner of Pennsylvania and Major Dickenson of the 1st Virginia Regiment. The
former of those Gentlemen is unknown to
you, but the latter ought much to be regret-
ted by his friends and Countrymen as he
possessed every qualification to render him
eminent in the Military line.
Inscriptions from the back of the portrait, probably in
Lucy's hand: " Major Edmund B. Dickinson, Killed
at Battle of Monmouth, June 28th 1778, He was the
brother of Lucy, wife of Robert Gibbons."
No one could have asked for a better commendation from his commander in chief.
Washington' s report on Monmouth made
the front page of Dixon and Hunter' s Virginia
sue them in the morning and ordered mopping
up operations over the ugly battlefield:
w
Gazette on July 17. It was the first public notice of Dickinson's death in Williamsburg. The
news, understandably, devastated his sisters. To
remember her dead brother, Lucy Dickinson
preserved the Valley Forge letter, his portrait,
A party consisting of 200 men to parade
immediately to bury the slain of both
Armies. The Officers of the American
Army are to be buried with military honors
due to men who have nobly fought & died
in the Cause of Liberty and their country.
ti
his will, and two anonymous poems written in
his memory. Her descendants maintained these
mementos to the 1990s. They are all now in the
collections of Colonial Williamsburg.
The fallen officers of both sides were also
memorialized in the passwords issued for the
Dickinson's sisters did not mourn alone. On Au-
day: the parole " Monckton" for British Lt. Col.
gust 4, the Williamsburg Masonic Lodge met for its
Henry Monckton, Second Grenadiers, with the
regular monthly meeting. The members gathered
countersign " Bonner, Dickason" honoring Lt.
that night recorded in their minute book that:
Col. Rudoph Bunner, Third Pennsylvania, and
Maj. Edmund Dickinson, First Virginia.
If Washington's orders were
This being the first Lodge night in course
since we have known of the Death of our late
worthy Brother Major Edmund Blunberg
Dickinson who gloriously fell in the Defence
of our Civill Rights and Liberties —
obeyed, and there is no reason to doubt this,
Resolved that the usual ceremonies indi-
No descriptions of the funerals have been
identified, but Dickinson is likely buried in
one of the churchyards in the immediate area
of Monmouth.
military protocol required that Bunner' s and
cating Joy and Pleasure be omitted for the
Dickinson' s remains be conveyed to the sites
present evening.
by honor guards marching with reversed arms.
Three volleys from as many as 200 muskets
It is fitting to leave the last word to Dr. James
McHenry, one of Washington's military secretaries.
were the appropriate salute to a fallen major, the
He likely met and knew Dickinson at Valley Forge
that spring of 1778. A Marylander, McHenry had
most fitting honor that the army could bestow.
But Dickinson' s final resting place remains un-
no particular personal or regional reason to re-
known, for now.
member the Virginia major. His tribute, therefore,
In the ensuing days, Washington mentioned
came from one American in honor of another. He
the deaths of Bunner and Dickinson in letters
to Horatio Gates and to his own brother John
wrote simply of Edmund Dickinson:
Augustine. On July 1, he wrote his report to
Congress on the battle. After praising the zeal of
his army, officers and men alike, he closed:
HA 06 5334792 Interpreter- Summer9
9
He was an officer of uncommon merit, to
whose services we cannot pay too great a
tribute of praise and remembrance.
m
6/ 30/06
4:07:24 PM
�10
The Colonial Williamsburg Interpreter
The barracks, intended to hold as many as
Arts & Mysteries
2, 000 soldiers stationed to defend the capital
city, must have been fairly impressive. Gov.
Patrick Henry and wartime maps of the vicinity
around Williamsburg provide fairly specific clues
Humphrey Harwood: Builder of the
Original " Revolutionary City"
to their whereabouts. The barracks were " to be
by Jason Whitehead
built on that Part of the Park, which the Gover-
Jason is an apprentice brickmaker in the Depart-
nor lately gave up for the use of the Troops," a
site Henry felt would be " more agreeable to the
ment of Historic Trades.
Inhabitants of Williamsburg. "4 This land, previBecause of the need to house, care for, and
ously considered part of the Palace property, was
supply the thousands of soldiers assembling in
far enough removed so as to reduce the disor-
and around the capital city, Williamsburg be-
derly conduct inherent in quartering potentially
came the eighteenth- century equivalent of the
thousands of troops within the city.
During the early years of the war, a journey to
military- industrial complex.
Within this " revolutionary city,"
the barracks would have required leaving town
along Capitol Landing Road. Anyone passing
through the Moody subdivision just north of
carpenter
shops were put to work building gun carriages.
James Anderson's blacksmith shop was kept
busy cleaning and repairing muskets. Builders
the Capitol would have come to a road head-
were employed around the city expanding ex-
ing off to the left. This road is marked on the
isting shops or building new structures capable
of handling the increased need for production.
Humphrey Harwood, the principal bricklayer in
the community, handled most of the war related
government brickwork in Williamsburg during
Frenchman' s Map. After traveling less than a
the period of the Revolution.
would have seen only the ruins of the " Casernes
brule par les Anglois" ( barracks burned by the
English) listed as number eight on the map
mile down this road, soldiers would have seen
the barracks off to their right in an open field.
However, anyone making this journey after
the British occupation of Williamsburg in 1781,
Barracks built near the city offer the earliest
example of Harwood' s war related work. Troops
w
had been gathering in and around Williamsburg
since the beginning of hostilities. A camp was
drawn in 1782 by Jean Nicolas Desandroiiins
constructed on the college campus, and some
beau' s army.5
1729- 1792),
who was attached to Rocham-
and busi-
Another project that consumed Harwood' s
nesses throughout town, with rent paid by the
time as a bricklayer was a new hospital. The
Continental Congress. This worked well as a
Virginia General Assembly issued directions in
temporary arrangement, but, for a more cost
effective way of sustaining a permanent garrison
March 1777 " to have a Hospital erected for the
sick troops in the service of this state. "6 The site
in Williamsburg, the council " recommended to
chosen for the new hospital was the land where
Brig. Gen. [ Andrew] Lewis to provide barracks
the public vineyard stood.
soldiers were quartered in homes
An act passed in 1769 allowed for the cre-
for the Continental Army stationed here. "1
The barracks were, in fact, a group of build-
ation of a public vineyard to " bring great riches
ings. According to Harwood' s ledger, at least
to the people." Frenchman Andrew Estave was
one of them was brick. He built at least one
allowed six years, beginning in 1770, to produce
foundation and several chimneys by the end
10 hogsheads of good merchantable wine." Un-
of 1776. Work continued into the next year,
fortunately for Estave, by the end of 1776, the
land in York County purchased for the vineyard
with Harwood building more chimneys, laying
hearths, and building an oven. In March 1778,
work at the " brick" barracks included " building
be sold by the next session of the General As-
a forge in kitching."2
sembly.7
was judged " unfit for that purpose" and was to
Some officers were still stationed in town,
The next year, Benjamin Powell was con-
however. In mid -1777, Harwood worked at the
tracted to convert the barn on the site into the
late Daniel Baxter' s property ( most likely the
William Randolph Lodging), which he noted
was being used for " Officer' s Barracks." A substantial chimney was built and in four rooms,
new hospital. By April, work had commenced
at the vineyard hospital. On the 12th, Harwood
entered a charge for 12, 250 bricks, 160 bushels
Harwood delivered over 185, 000 bricks by mid -
of lime, nine loads of sand, and twenty-three
days labor for " Pilfering ( meaning brick piers
were built) Barn at Vineyard ... &
building
1778 charged to " The Continent [al Congress]
Chimney ... &
for New Barracks. "3
laying 2 harths." By the end of 1777, Harwood
plaster was mended and whitewashed. In all,
HA 06 5334792 Interpreter- Summerl0
10
0
Underpinning trimming and
6/ 30/06
4:07:25 PM
�1a
Vol. 27, No. 2, Summer 2006
11
ra.
Map of Williamsburg area ( 1782) drawn by
Jean Nicolas Desandroiiins ( 1729 - 1792).
Courtesy of Library of Congress, Geography
and Map Division.
had delivered and laid another 93, 000 bricks at
house. In mid -1777, he worked on the drains and
the Vineyard, though for what purpose he did
wall by the Printing Office.
not say.8
In late summer 1779, the Capitol underwent
As can be seen on a 1781 French map of
hospital required traveling down the York road
a renovation. Chimneys, plastering, and a marble
chimney piece in the Council Chamber were all
repaired, and thirty-five days were spent white-
east about two miles. The hospital sat off to
washing the entire building.
the Yorktown environs,9 a trip to the vineyard
the left, near the site of the Civil War — Fort
era
Magruder.
A reader of Harwood' s ledger can also begin
to get a feel for the inflating economy by the
Throughout the war, Harwood also performed
late 1770s. As another routine job, twice a year
extensive work for James Anderson, blacksmith
in May and October, Harwood was contracted
To Cleaning the Statue." The £ 12. 6 charge in
October 1777 had risen to £ 20 by the next May.
A year later, cleaning the statue cost £ 60, and, by
October 1779, Harwood was charging £ 100.
and public armorer, including building forges and
chimneys and underpinning the shop. A more
thorough examination of the work at the armory
w
can be obtained by reading Noel Poirier's 2003
research report titled " The Williamsburg Public
Armory: A Historical Study,"
Why was Humphrey Harwood awarded so
of Virginia" from May 1778 to August 1779 totals
more than £314 in charges related directly to the
Barracks, Hospital, and Smiths Shop." When
many contracts for government work? One
only has to look as far as family and freemason
connections. The Harwood family had been established locally since the 1650s. Close relative
William Harwood represented Warwick County
in the House of Burgesses for more than thirty
added to his accounts for " The Continent for
years into the mid- 1770s.
available
at
the
Rockefeller Library.
Harwood' s account with the "Commonwealth
New Barracks" ( October 1776June 1778) and
Humphrey was selected for the Williamsburg
Commonwealth Of Virginia" ( March 1777 —
De-
Committee for the Enforcement of the Conti-
cember 1778 and September—
December 1779),
nental Association of Nonimportation and was
Harwood billed the government for more than
elected lieutenant and later captain of the local
2, 245 in just over three years.
militia in 1775. He was also a very active mem-
But he wasn't just working for
the state. Even during war, with
the grand construction happening
all around the capital city, routine
maintenance had to go on. In
early 1777, Harwood installed two
new grates and did chimney and
whitewashing work in the Court-
Notes sur les environs de York" ( 1 781 ]
in the Rochambeau Map Collection.
Courtesy: Library of Congress,
Geography and Map Division.
HA 06 5334792 Interpreter- Summerl 1
11
6/ 30/06
4:07:26 PM
�MBE
12
The Colonial Williamsburg Interpreter
ber of the local Lodge of Masons along with Wil-
1 Official Letters of the Governors of the State of Virginia,
liam Finnie, state quartermaster of Virginia and
Vol. 1: The Letters of Patrick Henry ( Richmond, Va.: The
Virginia State Library, 1926), 25.
deputy quartermaster of the Continental Army' s
Southern Department.
2 Humphrey Harwood Account Book, Ledger B ( John
Even though Harwood was the most promi-
D. Rockefeller Jr. Library, The Colonial Williamsburg Foun-
nent bricklayer employed by the government,
dation), fol. 5.
he was not alone. Both Samuel Spurr ( Bruton
3 Ibid., fol. 1.
Parish churchyard wall, Public Hospital)
4 Ibid.
and
William Phillips executed brickwork at the bar-
5 This map is part ofthe Rochambeau Map Collection at the
racks totaling more than £ 42 in 1776. 10 How-
Library of Congress and can be viewed online at http: / memory.
/
ever, very little is known of Phillips, and Spurr
loc . ov / mmem/collections / ochambeau- maps /index.html.
g
a
r
died in 1779.
Historians also have the advantage of Har-
6 Official Letters of the Governors, Henry, I: 117.
7 Hening's Statutes, 8: 364, 365; 9: 239.
8 Official Letters of the Governors, Henry, I: 125; Har-
wood' s two surviving ledgers. His wartime work
is well documented, and his professional con-
wood, Ledger B, fol. 7.
nections were impeccable. Thus, interpretively
9 Notes sur les environs de York [ 1781] in the Rocham-
in the Brickyard, his name will be first and
foremost when the discussion turns to wartime
beau Map Collection, Library of Congress. http: / memory.
/
construction in and around the capital city. As
twenty- first- century Colonial Williamsburg presents Revolutionary City, interpreters need to be
familiar with the work that went into building
Department, Accounts 1776 - 1780. The Library of Virginia.
loc. gov /ammem /
gmdhtml/ armhtml /
armhome. html.
10 Phillips is listed in Deputy Quartermaster, Southern
Richmond. Microfilm, John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library, The
Colonial Williamsburg Foundation; Spurr appears in Calendar of Virginia State Papers, 8: 142.
Revolutionary- era Williamsburg .
William and Arthur Lee, America' s First Spies
This article is reprinted with permission of Stratford Hall Plantation,
w
Robert E. Lee Memorial Association, Inc., Stratford, Virginia.
For a time, the careers of Thomas Lee' s
youngest sons, William ( 1739 - 1795)
and Ar-
thur ( 1740- 1792), seemed sure to eclipse those
of their older brothers, Richard Henry Lee and
Francis Lightfoot Lee ( signers of the Declaration
of Independence). Ingratiating themselves with
the British aristocracy, they soon abandoned
their promising careers as " Englishmen" and
risked their lives and fortunes in the cause for
American independence. Their contributions to
the Revolution are often overlooked; their work
frequently was done in secret and well away
from the visible sphere of American politics.
From their base in London, they gained access
to invaluable information on the motives of
King George III and Parliament, which, at the
risk of treason charges, they passed on to their
brothers in America.
Labeled " vagrant Americans" and " pestilent
traitors" by an increasingly suspicious English
Parliament, they were America's first spies and
worked tirelessly in that capacity for governmental as well as popular support for the American
cause.
From their years in England, the brothers were
William Lee
well acquainted with British political and social life.
In July 1773, to the astonishment of all, William Lee
HA 06 5334792 Interpreter- Summerl2
12
0
6/ 30/06
4:07:28 PM
�1••
Vol. 27, No. 2, Summer 2006
13
was elected Sheriff of London. He went on to claim
the title of City Alderman, which made him a powerful American political figure in England. Eyeing
a seat in Parliament, William became increasingly
vocal in his support for the rights of the colonies
and believed his political influence in the English
capital would further the cause for independence.
His brother Arthur, meanwhile, used entirely different methods to attain the common goal.
Well educated, Arthur Lee was considered an
intellectual presence in London. Graduating with
honors from Edinburgh University with a degree
in medicine, he also studied law in London before
abandoning these careers to write political tracts
in support of the colonies. Under various pen
names, Arthur was as prolific as he was patriotic.
His pamphlets were distributed throughout Europe
and America and served to rally sympathizers in
support of the American cause. A 1775 editorial
in the Virginia Gazette praised " the amiable Dr. Lee,
admired by all for his literary abilities and excellent
pieces in Vindication of the colonies, shines con-
spicuously as one of the first patriots of his age."
Arthur Lee
With war imminent, the Continental Con-
gress named Arthur its secret agent in London.
In this role he made contact with the French
The careers of William and Arthur were im-
agent, Beaumarchais, and initiated a flow of
supplies between France and America. A few
peded by bitter debates with Silas Deane, each
questioning the other' s allegiance to his country.
The controversy divided Congress in a vituperative debate. The political infighting resulted in
months later, Congress named Arthur, along
w
with Benjamin Franklin and Silas Deane, as
commissioners to the court of Versailles. It also
the reorganization of the diplomatic corps and all
made William its commercial agent in French
ports. By June of 1776, both brothers were in
but one of the positions held by the two brothers
were eliminated. Neither brother was ever reap-
Paris.
pointed to an important government post.
The Silas Deane affair seemed to have embit-
William later became commissioner to the
courts of Berlin and Vienna. Arthur, in concert
tered not only William and Arthur but the Lee
with Franklin and Deane, made overtures to the
courts of Madrid and Berlin. Neither Germany
family as a whole. Accusations, though unproven
and unfounded, tarnished the Lee family name.
nor Spain intended to establish diplomatic rela-
Ever courageous, the brothers defended one an-
tions with the new nation until France entered
other with the same vigor and spirit that brought
the war; thus their efforts to secure international
them so much respect and admiration in their
support for the American cause proved futile.
pursuit of American liberty.
HA 06 5334792 Interpreter- Summerl3
13
0
6/ 30/06
4:07:28 PM
�MEM
The Colonial Williamsburg Interpreter
14
Patrick Henry: First Governor of the Commonwealth
by Mark Couvillon
Mark is a site interpreter in the Department of Historic Site Interpretation
and has written extensively about Patrick Henry.
During the summer
of
1776,
while
Patrick Henry, who
had written to Adams
a few weeks earlier
the
delegates of the Fifth
Virginia
Convention
praising his pamphlet
as being in unison with
were drawing up VirLord
his own sentiments,
spoke in favor of an
Dunmore, the defunct
executive veto on the
ginia' s constitution in
Williamsburg,
royal governor of Vir-
acts of the two houses
ginia,
encamped
of the legislature. With-
with his tattered army
out the ability to veto,
Island
Henry wamed, the ex-
Piankatank
ecutive would not be
was
at
Gwynn' s
on
the
River. Though some
a
forty miles away, Dun -
of power, but a " mere
more' s
phantom"
presence
was
coordinate branch
still powerfully felt in
defend
Williamsburg
the
when
it came time for the
unable
to
itself against
usurpation of the
legislature or to defend
convention to draw
vehement
new governor of the
w
the
up the duties of the
ferment in that body."
commonwealth.
By declaring Virginia to be a common-
Painted by Thomas Sully, who took the image from a miniature
by a French artist, Patrick Henry ( CWF 1958 -3, A) is shown
here in a three -quarter front view. The portrait is dated 1815,
but the miniature would have been done much earlier.
wealth, the delegates
people
against " a
impulse
or
1J
His arguments fell on
deaf ears.
The late deprada-
tions by Lord Dunmore
were, in essence, harking back to the days of
were still too fresh in the minds of most delegates
Oliver Cromwell and the English civil wars,
for them to consider giving the govemor any control
over the legislature. According to Edmund Randolph, a member of the drafting committee, "After
when the majority of power was lodged in the
hands of the legislature and not the executive.
Under the new state government, the House of
creating the office of govemor, the convention gave
Delegates and the Senate ( both elected by the
voters of Virginia) were to choose annually, by
way to their horror of a powerful chief magistrate
without waiting to reflect how much stronger a gov-
joint ballot, a governor who had to step down
emor might be made for the benefit of the people,
after three terms in office. The two houses were
and yet be held with a republican bridle."
also to elect an eight man council to serve as an
Having denied the executive the power to
advisory board to the governor, who could not
veto, the Convention went on to remove that
act without their consent.
one power that had been the thorn in the side
of the House of Burgesses for years: the power of
the governor to " adjourn, prorogue, or dissolve"
the legislature. Removed from all legislative
Having determined how the governor and
privy council were to be chosen, the drafting committee went on to decide what hand, if any, the
executive should have in the legislative process.
and judicial matters ( save the ability to grant
Aiding the delegates in framing a new govemment
for Virginia was a pamphlet written by John Adams
pardons and reprieves), the position of the new
titled Thoughts on Government, which had been
ministrative one; the legislature would enact the
circulating through Virginia since May, as well as a
laws and the governor would implement them.
plan of government presented to the drafting committee by George Mason. Though similar in many
to voice concern over the creation of a weak
ways, Adams' s plan called for an executive veto,
executive. After the adoption of the constitu-
whereas Mason wanted the governor to have no
voice in the enactment of laws.
tion, Italian immigrant and secret agent for the
HA 06 5334792 Interpreter- Summerl4
14
governor in Virginia would be primarily an ad-
Randolph and Henry were not the only ones
state Philip Mazzei wrote: " In Virginia, fearing
m
6/ 30/06
4:07:30 PM
�NM
M
Vol. 27, No. 2, Summer 2006
15
to give the governor too much power, we have
After his gubernatorial defeat, Nelson was
made him an almost insignificant personage; he
selected by the convention to serve on the new
governor' s council, which he promptly declined
is completely under the tutelage of his councilors."
Mazzei observed that " the obligation the
on account of "his age and infirmities" (
problems
governor is under to follow the instructions of
that seemed not to have bothered him when ac-
his councilors in all cases limits his authority too
cepting the nomination for governor!).
John Page, who had only received one vote
much, and in critical moments, his obligation to
consult them can also be dangerous."
for governor, accepted the position on the exec-
Despite the loss of power given to the new
utive council. Page, like most of the men elected
governor of the commonwealth ( as compared to
to Henry' s council, was a patriotic, yet conservative Tidewater man. Henry, like previous British
governors, quickly realized that he would have
the broad powers held by the royally appointed
governors), it was still regarded as a prestigious
and influential position. Contrary to popular belief, the position was not given to Patrick Henry
by his political enemies as a means of removing
him from the assembly.* In fact, only fifteen votes
separated Henry from his closest opponent.
On June 29, 1776, after adopting the new
no parades, no balls, no grand speeches. While in
state Constitution and Declaration of Rights,
Williamsburg, Henry had contracted malaria and
the Fifth Convention called for nominations
was close to death.
to work well with these men or risk the chance
of becoming a weak and ineffectual leader.
On July 6, the day after the Virginia Committee of Safety held its final meeting, Patrick
Henry was sworn in as governor. There would be
for the position of governor. George Mason,
in the new governor, wrote to Thomas Jefferson
forth the name of Patrick Henry for governor.
concerning the gravity of the situation. " I must
Edmund Pendleton, chairman of the conven-
immediately attend the Governor who is very
tion and political opponent of Henry, nominated
Thomas Nelson Sr. for the post. Nelson ( not to
ill. If he should die before we have qualified and
chosen a President ( lieutenant governor) the
be confused with his nephew and signer of the
Country will be without any head —everything
Declaration of Independence Thomas Nelson Jr.)
i1w
John Page, who had been assigned to swear
the main author of Virginia's constitution, put
must be in Confusion."
had been the secretary of the colony under Lord
Dunmore and a member of his council. The
Sitting up in his sickbed, Henry placed his
shaking hand on the Bible and swore an oath to
last man to be nominated was John Page, also a
uphold the new constitution; to protect the rights
member of the former governor' s council.
of the people; and to "peacefully & quietly resign
1
of
the government" at the end of his term. After
The battle came down to Henry and Nelson,
the latter having not only the backing of Pen-
Henry was sworn in, he left Williamsburg for his
home —Scotchtown in Hanover County —for
dleton and his conservative followers, but also
the support of many of the more liberal -minded
rest and recuperation.
men in the convention. Although Nelson had
not been at all prominent in the Revolution, it
Two months went by before the forty-yearold governor had enough strength to return to
was widely believed that his election would help
the capital city and assume his executive duties.
During his absence, John Page ( who had been
unite the political factions.
There were also those who believed Nelson
chosen vice president of the council) officiated
to be better qualified for the position. From
in his stead. As the first lieutenant governor of
Congress, Richard Henry Lee wrote Pendleton:
the commonwealth, he proved to be a most com-
would it not be well to appoint Mr. President
petent stand -in during Henry' s bouts with illness
and would narrowly lose to Jefferson as second
Nelson for the first Governor ...
since he pos-
governor of Virginia in 1779.
sesses knowledge, experience, and has already
been in the dignified station ?"
On September 17, 1776, Henry was well enough
When the vote was finally taken, the demo-
to attend his first council meeting, which he held
cratic spirit in the House prevailed. Sixty votes
were cast for Henry; forty-five for Nelson. After
held by the governor both at the Palace and in
the vote, Pendleton justified not running for of-
the " Council Chamber" in the Capitol. ( The lat-
at the Governor' s Palace. Council meetings were
fice himself on the grounds that he " did not think
ter space appears to have been preferred when
it became those who pushed on the revolution to
the General Assembly was in session and when
the governor was absent.) Just where they met
get in the first offices." Spencer Roane ( an ardent
in the Capitol is unknown. It may have been the
same chamber once used by Lord Dunmore and
his councilors. However, that room may have also
been taken over by the newly formed state senate.
supporter of Patrick Henry) replied to Pendleton
that we should have cut a pretty figure if that
office had been given to a man who was no Whig;
as Mr. Nelson was said to have been."
HA 06 5334792 Interpreter- Summerl5
15
0
6/ 30/06
4:07:31 PM
�MEM
16
The Colonial Williamsburg Interpreter
removal from the coastline of all persons sus-
A usual session of the governor' s council
pected of disaffection to the American cause.
started at ten in the morning and lasted until
late in the afternoon. After the meetings, Henry
To help protect Virginia' s western settlers,
Henry sent out forces under commands of Col.
George Rogers Clark and Col. Evan Shelby in
1777 and 1778 to put a stop to the Indian raids
instigated by British agents. These two expeditions led to the capture of Henry " The Hair
Buyer" Hamilton and the defeat of Chief Dragging Canoe and his band of renegade Cherokees.
would return to the Palace where he would
spend the majority of the rest of the day receiving visitors, signing land grants, drawing up
proclamations, issuing declarations for days of
thanksgiving and prayer, and corresponding with
officials inside and outside of Virginia, including
those from foreign nations.
He also responded to the occasional appeals
Internal enemies were also a threat to the
for clemency sought by one of the courts on
state' s security. In May 1777, Governor Henry
was instructed by the assembly to see to the
behalf of a convicted felon. Such was the case
removal of all British subjects who manifested
when the magistrates of Stafford County petitioned Governor Henry to pardon two slaves
they had sentenced to death for killing another
slave " in the course of a mutual fighting."
Henry' s main focus while governor naturally
hostility toward the American cause and to
furnish their passage back to England. The bulk
of those exiled were merchants who represented
British houses.
centered on the war. In 1777, he wrote to Rich-
The following year, Henry sent out the mili-
ard Henry Lee: " From morning ' til night, I have
tia and a detachment of state troops to capture
not a minute from business....
There are a
thousand things to mend —to begin."
of
notorious tory leader Josiah Phillips, who, with
a band of fifty men, had been plundering and
killing citizens in Princess Anne County and
Norfolk. Philips was captured, tried for robbery
Williamsburg, removing incompetent militia offi-
in the General Court, convicted, and hanged on
cers, issuing marching orders, making provisions
December 4, 1778.
for prisoners of war, strengthening fortifications,
directing ship placements, establishing dockyards
A look at the surviving executive journals
show that the majority of Henry' s time as governor was spent in two areas: appointing local
Some of those " thousand things" included
placing
a
military
guard
on
the
streets
with the assistance of the Navy Board),
w
rope-
walks, and naval depots, and perhaps the most
stressing of all —trying
1J
officials ( such as justices, sheriffs, coroners, in-
spectors, and militia officers from those names
to meet Virginia's quota
of men for the Continental Army.
recommended by the county courts) and approv-
Congress had requested fifteen regiments
ing expenditures of state money.
from Virginia for continental service. Though
The council minutes reveal endless claims
Virginia had the manpower to fill the ranks, fear
upon the state ( for which warrants were issued
of smallpox, the recruiting within Virginia by
other states, news of military defeats, and the
reluctance of men to leave their family and farms
by the governor) for such things as paying mas-
to fight and perhaps die in a foreign state, all led
jamin Bucktrout as purveyor to the hospital and
to incomplete quotas.
James Anderson as public armourer), and paying
wagoners for transporting supplies to the army.
ters for the use of their slaves in the lead mines,
paying salaries of state officials ( including Ben-
There was also the endless demand of find-
ing arms, powder, salt, tents, blankets, clothes,
As war concerns mounted, the members of
wagons, and other supplies for Virginia' s troops
the legislature realized that they had restricted
the executive branch so severely that the governor was unable to carry out his duties properly,
at
the
cheapest
rates
possible. (
For this task
he often turned to the commissary of provisions William Aylett and purchasing agent John
especially when the assembly was not in session.
Hawkins.)
By the end of 1776, the legislature granted
Governor Henry " additional powers" to handle
wartime emergencies. These extraordinary powers included seizing supplies for the army, raising
Henry was also burdened with the nearly
impossible task of protecting the long Virginia
coastline and frontier from invasion. On four
separate occasions, fearing a British invasion by
additional troops ( if needed), and sending three
sea, the executive was compelled to embody the
state battalions to aid Washington's army or a
militia.
sister state in distress.
When British Gen. William Howe's fleet appeared off the Virginia coast in August 1777,
Over the coming months, further powers
were given to the executive by the assembly.
Henry called out sixty-four militia companies
These included the full power to commission
and placed them under the command of Gen.
and remove justices of the peace from office, the
Thomas Nelson. He also ordered the arrest and
ability to convene courts -martial, and the power
HA 06 5334792 Interpreter- Summerl6
16
0
6/ 30/06
4:07:32 PM
�MEM
Vol. 27, No. 2, Summer 2006
17
to lay embargoes on the exportation of certain
to a second and third term without opposition.
provisions. In 1778, the governor was authorized
Some members encouraged him to run for a
by the assembly to superintend the Public Jail
fourth term, arguing that he had been elected
in 1776 by the convention and not the General
Assembly. Henry politely refused, preferring to
abide by the spirit of the constitution.
and direct compensation to the keeper.
Although on paper Henry had no hand in
legislative matters, in reality his views and opinions had great weight in the assembly. Such was
the case in May 1777, when he recommended
and the legislature enacted a law directing a
Sources:
Council Journal, 1776 - 1779.
draft to complete the six additional regiments
Hening, William Waller, Jr. The Statutes at Large. 13 vols.
New York, Philadelphia, Richmond, 1823.
called for by Congress, or when he recom-
Henry, William Wirt. Patrick Henry: Life, Correspondence and
mended ( and received) a tax for the redemption
Speeches. 3 vols. New York, 1891.
of the paper money issued by the state to help
Mcllwaine, H. R., ed. Official Letters of the Governors of the
State of Virginia. Vol. I. Richmond, 1926.
Meade, Robert Douthat. Patrick Henry: Practical Revolution-
curb inflation.
Rampant counterfeiting throughout the state
was a main contributor to the depreciation of
ary. Philadelphia and New York, 1969.
Randolph, Edmund. History of Virginia. Reprinted by University Press of Virginia, 1970.
Virginia's currency. The relaxed laws on counterfeiting prompted Governor Henry to write
the legislature on November 13, 1778, urging
them to make counterfeiting a crime punishable
Henry served two more terms as governor after the
by death. The assembly responded by making
Revolution, from 1784 until 1786. His reelection to the
governorship at that particular time may have had con-
counterfeiting or passing counterfeit money a
sequences for debates in the legislature over passage of
felony without benefit of clergy.
On May 29, 1779, Henry' s third term as
Jefferson's bill for establishing religious freedom, then being
shepherded through the General Assembly by James Madison. Henry supported a different bill known as " General Assessment" that would have created a mandatory religious tax
governor came to an end. Whatever fears and
uncertainties some of the delegates had in vot-
W
ing against him for governor in 1776 had been
wiped away by the hard work and exemplary
conduct he displayed during the dark years of
to be distributed to the church, denomination, or school of
the Revolution. This is evident in his reelection
Freedom in 1785.
HA 06 5334792 Interpreter- Summerl7
17
the taxpayer' s choice. Historians suggest that with Henry in
the governor' s chair and out of the legislature, the way was
smoothed for passage of the Virginia Statute for Religious
0
6/ 30/06
ti
4:07:32 PM
�M
18
The Colonial Williamsburg Interpreter
larger timber trees; a future story will examine
Bothy' s
the understory trees.
Mould
The pines were our most important natural
resource, supplying a variety of naval stores. The
trunks became masts, and the resin was used to
Presenting
produce tar, pitch, and turpentine. As early as
the latest dirt
mould) from
1608, Capt. Christopher Newport returned from
Jamestown with naval stores produced in the
the gardener' s
a71, 1 Ita, r1r
first year of the settlement.
hut (bothy).
Capt. John Smith received these instructions
Tall Tales:
for the production of turpentine: " Pyne trees, or
A Cultural History of North
the grounde, or boare a hoal with an agar the
ffirre trees, are to be wounded within a yard of
third pte into the tree, and lett yt runne into
American Trees ( Part 1)
anye thinge that may receyve the same, and that
such yssuses owte wilbe turpentine worth 18
by Wesley Greene
pounds per tonne."
Wesley is a garden historian in the Landscape
Prior to the settlement of North America,
Department. You can often find him in costume
the English were getting most of their naval
stores from Sweden. The danger of relying on a
interpreting in the Colonial Garden across the street
foreign source for such important resources was
from Bruton Parish Church.
The eastern hardwood forest of North Amer-
recognized in a petition drawn up by Parliament
in 1704: " it was forseen fifty years since that it
ica is the most diverse temperate forest anywhere
would be dangerous to depend upon the North-
on earth. It was this magnificent population of
ern Crowns for naval stores and then taken into
consideration to be supplied from the plantations
in America."
trees that first impressed the early colonists and
plant explorers. The Rev. John Clayton, who was
sent to Virginia by Henry Compton, bishop of
w
To encourage the production of naval stores,
London, explored Virginia and Maryland from
a bounty was implemented in 1705 of £ 4 per
1684 to 1686. He reported on the flora: " The
ton for tar and pitch and £ 3 per ton for resin or
country of itself is one entire wood, consisting
of large Timber Trees of several sorts, free from
turpentine. In Williamsburg, a 1720 bill stated:
Be it enacted by the Lieutenant -Governor,
Thickets or under wood, the small shrubs grow-
Council and Burgesses of this present Assembly
ing only on Lands that have been cleared, or in
That the sum of twelve hundred pounds cur-
swamps; and thus it is for several Hundreds of
Miles, even as far as has yet been discovered."
rent money of the Colony, be appropriated and
The value of our timber trees was quickly
recognized by the colonists, and vast quantities
cause to be made, good and merchantable tar."
While Virginia did produce naval stores, the
of timber were cut both for export and local use.
most common pine in Tidewater was ( and is)
paid to the person or persons, who shall make, or
Coupled with the clearing of land for crops and
the loblolly pine ( Pinus taeda),
the harvesting of wood for heating and cooking,
cies for naval stores. The white pine ( P strobus)
the forest had all but disappeared from Tidewater
of the New England colonies was preferred for
Virginia by the Revolution.
masts, and the long leaf pine ( 1 palustris) in the
Landon Carter expressed his concern for the
an inferior spe-
Carolinas was best for production of masts, tar,
dwindling supply of timber in his diary on April 4,
and turpentine.
1770: " We now have full 3/ 4 of the year in which
When the first colonists arrived, long -eaf
l
we are obliged to keep constant fires; we must
pine grew throughout the Tidewater region.
fence our ground in with rails build and repair our
Many of the Historic Area's original buildings
houses with timber and every cooking room must
have floors made from this pine. These hard,
resin- soaked boards derived from 300 year -old
have its fire the year round....
I must wonder
what succeeding years will do for firewood."
trees are nearly indestructible.
By the eighteenth century, the individual
When the forest was cut, the long leaf pine
was replaced by the loblolly pine found throughout Tidewater Virginia today. Today the long -leaf
pine is found naturally in Virginia only in a single
preserve located in Isle of Wight County near
Zuni, maintained by Old Dominion University.
The demise of the long -leaf had two primary
attributes of different woods had been long
established
among tradesmen and plantation
owners. Colonial Williamsburg' s tradespeople
have preserved this knowledge and interpret the
unique properties of our many native trees to
guests. In this article, we will look at some of the
HA 06 5334792 Interpreter- Summerl8
18
0
6/ 30/06
4:07:35 PM
�Vol. 27, No. 2, Summer 2006
19
causes. Unlike the other pines, long -eaf pine gerl
along with the closely related swamp or basket
minates in the winter to form what is called the
oak ( Q. michauxii).
The southern red oak ( Q. falcata) was often
called the Spanish oak in the eighteenth century
grass stage of the plant. These young, susceptible
plants were devastated by the feral hogs that plantation owners tumed loose in the forest. Long -eaf
l
pine is also an obligate fire species and will grow
though this name quickly disappeared in the next
century. Francois Michaux remarked on this in
only in areas that experience periodic bums. Naturally occurring fires and the fires set by the native
ton it is said to have been called Spanish Oak."
1819: " In an old English work I found in Charles-
peoples created an ideal situation, but once the
Some writers have speculated that the name
fires were suppressed, this pine disappeared from
originated from the similarity of its leaves to that
of the European turkey oak, for example, in the
Natural History: " Spanish Oak does not grow so
tall, its wood is very good, and shingles and barrel
our area. One of the primary considerations for
the construction of the canal through the Dismal
Swamp ( begun in 1793) was to gain access to the
stands of long -leaf pine in North Carolina.
In Williamsburg today, long -leaf pine is the
primary source of "lightwood"
ropes are made from it."
John Brickell, author of the Natural History of
North Carolina ( 1737), wrote
or " fatwood" burned in cres-
that it was " very easy to split,
pines
therefore some use to build
will make lightwood as well.
Vessels with it, it affords good
sets,
although
other
Lightwood has been used for
Plank,
torches for hundreds of years.
for Fences, and also excellent
Around 1685, the Rev. John
good Mast [ nuts fallen from
Clap- Boards,
Rails,
Banister recorded in his Nat-
ural History, "
in a Canoe by light wood."
Oak is second only to pine
of the woods our coopers use
in importance. Of about 450
tina),
species of oak worldwide, 68
is a tight grained wood used
exist in North America, with
w
trees] for Swine." This is one
we fish anights
for building and ground con-
the largest diversity on the
east coast. Oaks are struck by
lightning more often than any
other tree, primarily because
tact. Brickell recorded that it
for their buckets.
The black oak ( Q. velua less common variety,
grows large, and is ...
some-
time used in House -work."
reason, the Greeks associated the oak with Zeus
The Natural History records
the wood is very good for
building, for when it is old, it becomes as hard as
and his ultimate weapon, the thunderbolt, and
iron." Anyone who has tried to pull a nail from
the Norse with Thor, the god of thunder, whose
an old post- and -beam structure made from black
battle hammer set off flashes of lightning.
Oak is used extensively in all of the building
oak can testify to this; it is impossible to extract
of their rough bark.* For this
the nail without breaking it. This oak was originally classed as Q. tinctoria because a yellow dye
trades. The bark' s high content of tannic acid
makes it the most popular source for tanbark,
used in tanning leather. The acorns were valued
for hog food.
was obtained from its bark.
The American elm ( Ulmus americana) has all
but disappeared from our landscape through the
The most important oak native to Virginia is
ravages of Dutch elm disease, which was intro-
the Eastern white oak ( Quercus alba), or " scaly
bark oak" as it was often referred to by colonial
duced into this country in 1930. The American
woodsmen. It was recognized as a close relative
there are scores of locations east of the Missis-
to the English oak ( Q. robur) and put to similar
sippi bearing placards that state: "
uses in the construction of ships. The Natural
an Elm Tree stood."
elm
is
the
quintessential memorial
tree,
and
On this spot
An elm that once stood on Cambridge Com-
History ( circa 1730), until recently attributed to
William Byrd II, classes it as the White iron oak
mon was famous for marking the site where
and explains the name as " called thus because
Washington took command of the Continental
of its hardness. This wood is regarded as best
Army. However, when it came down and the
for ships because of its lasting quality. Many are
rings were counted, we learned that it would
made from it."
have been a mere sapling at the time.
Other famous elms were the Whipping Post
Its straight, pliable grain also makes it the
Elm in Litchfield, Connecticut; the William
ideal wood for basketmaking. Colonial Williams burg' s basketmakers use primarily white oak
HA 06 5334792 Interpreter- Summerl9
19
Penn Treaty Elm in Haverford, Pennsylvania; the
0
6/ 30/06
4:07:36 PM
�JINN
20
The Colonial Williamsburg Interpreter
Divine Elm in Madison County, Kentucky, under
The most common maple in tidewater Vir-
which the first legislative session in Kentucky
was held on May 23, 1775; and the Justice Elm
ginia is the red maple ( Acer rubrum), but the
in Missouri, where Daniel Boone spent his last
monly in the mountains, is the most useful.
years dispensing his version of frontier law.
Robert Beverly devoted an entire chapter of The
History and Present State of Virginia ( 1705) to
sugarmaking and observed: " tho' this discovery
has not been made by the English above 12 or 14
years; yet it has been known among the Indians,
longer than any now living can remember."
A detailed list of the uses for maple sap can be
found in the Natural History:
sugar maple ( A. saccharum), found more com-
There are eighteen species of elm worldwide,
and its wood has been put to a variety of uses.
Danish flat bows discovered on sites dating to
2800 B. C. E. were constructed from elm. The first
water pipes laid in London in 1613 were made
from elm wood. Sections of them, still sound
and intact, were unearthed in 1930 during the
construction of the London Underground. Our
This is the most useful tree in the whole
wheelwrights use elm for wheel hubs because of
world, because one makes wine, spirits,
its durable, split- resistant property.
vinegar, honey and sugar from it....
The American beech ( Fagus grandifolia) is
At
first this juice is as pleasant as the best
one of our most stately native trees. Colonial
grape juice. If one lets it ferment, then it
produces a very good wine. If one distills
it, then one has spirits. If one places it in
surveyors looked to it as an indicator of fertile
soils, since it typically grows on calcareous soil
overlaid with loam. ( The English book derives
the sun, then one gets splendid vinegar. If,
from the Anglo -Saxon boc meaning " letter" or
character," which may, itself, derive from the
however, it is cooked, one gets honey, and
afterwards, sugar.
older beece, or beech.)
Thomas Jefferson was the first to record that
The smooth gray bark of these trees has
provided a palette for romantic carving since
Roman times. Orlando, in Shakespeare' s As You
Like It, declared:
w
it was a combination of freezing nights and warm
days that produce the best flow. Maple is used by
our cabinetmakers as well as in the production of
kitchen implements such as spoons and bowls.
0 Rosalind! These trees shall be my books
And I their bark my thoughts I'll character
That every eye which in this forest looks
Our largest deciduous tree is the tulip tree
Liriodendron tulipifera),
i
often called the yellow
or tulip poplar. Lawson, in A New Voyage to
Carolina ( 1709), wrote about a hollow tulip tree
that was so large " wherein a lusty Man had his
Shall see thy virtue witness' s everywhere.
Perhaps the most famous carving on a beech
tree in this country was found on Carrol Creek
in Washington County, Tennessee: " D. Boone,
Bed and Household Furniture, and liv' d in it, till
his Labour got him a more fashionable Mansion."
Cilled a Bar, On Tree, In Year 1760." Boone' s
The wood of this tree was used in furniture as
testament was legible until 1880, and, when this
well as wainscoting.
Several hickories native to Virginia are useful
venerable old tree fell in 1916, the Forest Service
for their nuts and in making tool handles and other
estimated it was 365 years old.
The arbors at the Governor' s Palace are con-
wooden implements such as rakes and pitchforks.
structed from American beech and are routinely
carved by our guests. The oldest inscription I
could find when walking through the arbor in
January was from 1985. When I first came to
Ash is used extensively by our wheelwrights for
work at the Palace in 1981, there were several
mon, often called American ebony, is used for
inscriptions still legible from the 1950s.
gun stocks. The bald cypress was used for con-
carriage frames, wheelbarrows, and wheel spokes.
Black walnut provides both nuts and wood
for some of the finest furniture. The persim-
The species name for the beech, fagus, comes
structing canoes and shingles. The rot resistant
from the Greek phagus, meaning " to eat." Beech
nuts are composed of up to 22 percent protein
properties of eastern red cedar ( actually a juni-
and 50 percent fat. Lawson in A New Voyage to
fragrance made it desirable for furniture.
per) made it suitable for fencing and coffins; its
Carolina ( 1709) observed of the beech nut: " It
The easily carved light wood of the American
afford a very sweet Nut, yet the Pork fed thereon
tho' sweet) is very oily, and ought to be harden'd
linden, or basswood, was often fashioned into
with Indian Corn, before it is kill' d."
impart a flavor to food during cooking. Longfel-
kitchen implements because the wood does not
Beech wood is not used for building because
low tells us that all of the bowls at Hiawatha's
it quickly rots when exposed to the weather,
wedding were made from basswood. The name
Basswood is actually a derivation of bastwood or
bast referring to the inner bark, which the native
but our carpenters employ the wood for making
block planes.
HA 06 5334792 Interpreter- Summer20
20
0
6/ 30/06
4:07:37 PM
�1••
Vol. 27, No. 2, Summer 2006
21
people in North America used for making ropes
for fish seines. Interestingly, the Celts had used
Smooth barked trees such as beeches form a
continuous sheen of water from the upper limbs down
European linden for seine nets.
the trunk, which essentially creates a crude lightning
North America's greatest resource was not
rod. A tree with a complete sheen of water functions
found in precious metals, as the first settlers
had hoped, but in the trees. As Franz Michel, a
much the same way as a lightening rod by siphoning off electrons and preventing a strike. Oak bark,
because of it roughness and its water shedding prop-
Swiss traveler who visited Williamsburg in 1702,
observed: "
Regarding wild trees, it may be said
justly that none can be found which are superior
erties, prevents this sheen of water from forming, so
there are air gaps along the trunk of the tree. Mature
oaks are also among the tallest of trees so they provide
likely targets for lightening strikes.
to them."
Three new books in the collection of the
Coffeehouses:
by Laura Arnold
Rockefeller Library bring coffee out of those
shadows: Coffee: A Dark History by Antony
Wild, London's Coffee Houses: A Stimulating Story
by Antony Clayton, and The Social Life of Coffee:
The Emergence of the British Coffeehouse by Brian
Laura is a volunteer and member of the Interpreter
Planning Board.
The popularity of coffee in England can be
traced back to the mid- seventeenth century
The Starbucks of the
Eighteenth Century
w
ti
Cowan.
when travel and trade with the Middle East
When the format at Shields Tavern on Duke
and the Orient first excited the upper levels of
of Gloucester Street was changed to that of an En-
British society. Coffee was initially described as
glish coffeehouse, Colonial Williamsburg added
a " strange Turkish beverage" that was " black
an often misunderstood dimension to its depic-
as soote, and tasting not much unlike it." Like
tion of life in eighteenth -century Williamsburg.
many of the new imported " exotics," coffee was
Coffeehouse and tavern are words that are mistak-
believed to have beneficial medicinal proper-
enly used as synonyms for each other because of
ties. The caffeine in coffee was a stimulant that
the similarity of the services offered.
made it well suited to good conversation and an
Unlike taverns, coffeehouses were usually
smaller, provided limited or no space for lodging,
and served only simple, light fare along with a
beverages, all of which helped accelerate the
antidote to the intoxicating effects of alcoholic
and, by the eighteenth- century, alcoholic bever-
popularity of coffee and by 1650, the coffeehouse
as the place in which to consume it. Obviously,
the cachet associated with drinking coffee with
variety of nonalcoholic ( coffee, tea, chocolate)
ages. Most taverns in England did not serve cof-
your intellectual peers was more important than
fee, which contributed to the explosive increase
its taste.
in the number of coffeehouses where this rela-
Early in their history, coffeehouses were chiefly
patronized by the " elite" members of society:
tively inexpensive drink could be enjoyed.
The concept of coffeehouses was yet another
those men whose interest in science, philosophy,
facet of British society that was copied in the
and the arts launched the Age of Enlightenment.
colonies.
However, because tea became the
Admission to a coffeehouse cost one penny;
beverage symbolic of the American Revolution,
coffee was lost in the shadows of the famous " tea
because of the intellectual discussions and new
ideas that flourished in the congenial atmo-
parties" that drew attention to the issue of taxa-
sphere of coffeehouses, they were referred to as
tion without representation.
HA 06 5334792 Interpreter- Summer2l
21
penny universities."
0
6/ 30/06
4:07:38 PM
�NEM
22
The Colonial Williamsburg Interpreter
Goodwin found a more specific reference to
Gradually, coffeehouses welcomed all levels
of society ( but not female customers), especially
a Williamsburg coffeehouse in the 1751 journal
those craftsmen whose skills supplied the new
of Daniel Fisher, a coffee and tea merchant who
demand for luxury goods. In urban areas such
leased the building previously owned by John
as London, men with similar interests ( ships'
Marot and later James Shields. Fisher noted that
captains, politicians, artists, and clergy) began
the building was " known by the name of the
to gather at particular coffeehouses for refresh-
English Coffee House."
Other buildings near the Capitol that were
ments, socializing, and the dissemination and
discussion of the latest news.
operated as taverns or ordinaries were, at various
Politics was always a popular topic of conver-
times, also referred to as coffeehouses. As the
sation, and after the return of Charles II to the
colony grew in size, more visitors came to this
throne, his nervous followers became concerned
capital city, and public houses that offered lodging and dining were more numerous.
about what they considered seditious ideas com-
ing from the patrons of coffeehouses. The king
An establishment that began as a coffee-
was persuaded to issue a proclamation in Decem-
house may have changed into a tavern without
its former name changing in the minds of its
ber 1675 ordering the closure of all coffeehouses.
Imagine forcing the closing of all Starbucks! Pub-
patrons. Shields Tavern is an example of the
lic protest caused Charles II to revoke the procla-
blurred distinction between the use of tavern
mation, and coffeehouses continued to prosper.
17th and 18th Centuries, a research report writ-
and coffeehouse. Today, Shields Tavern places the
emphasis on its role as a coffeehouse by offering
its customers a capsule history of coffeehouses on
ten for Colonial Williamsburg, found the earliest
its bill of fare:
Mary Goodwin, in The Coffeehouses of the
reference to a Williamsburg coffeehouse in the
Some Interesting Facts:
1709 - 1712 diaries of William Byrd of Westover.
He did not give the proprietor' s name or its
location except to indicate that it was near the
Coffee beans were used by the Galla tribe
in Ethiopia as an energy food before A.D.
Capitol.
1000.
England' s first coffeehouse opened in Ox-
Byrd was familiar with London coffeehouses,
and his numerous visits to the coffeehouse in
w
ford in 1650.
Williamsburg reveal that it, too, was a gathering
place for men of business as well as those who
It is estimated that by 1700 more than
2, 000 coffeehouse were operating in Lon-
took part in the business of government. They
don alone!
seldom ate their meals at the coffeehouse and,
Although we associate England with tea,
like their British counterparts, used it as a place
coffee and tea were introduced about the
for light refreshments and socializing while discussing the latest news.
same time.
During the seventeenth and most of the
eighteenth
century,
coffeehouses
were
A London
Coffee House,"
signed and dated
A.S. 1668, demonstrates that women
could be found in
coffeehouses
as
owners or managers
but not as customers
nor in direct contact
with male custom-
ers. Taken from
Peter B. Brown's In
Praise of Hot Liquors ( 1995), 11.
HA 06 5334792 Interpreter- Summer22
22
0
6/ 30/06
4:07:39 PM
�MEM
Vol. 27, No. 2, Summer 2006
23
strictly male domains; women were ex-
In 1751, Daniel Fisher took over the late
cluded as customers [ even though women
Mr. Shields' s tavern and remarked in his
occasionally ran coffeehouses].
journal that it was known in town as
Many English coffeehouses had posted
Marot' s or the English Coffee House."
Rules and Orders" to the effect that all
The full, fascinating history of this " strange
men were equal within the establishment.
Turkish drink," a beverage that for four centu-
Any man with a penny for admission was
welcome and could interact with his fel-
ries has survived the ever -changing tastes of its
consumers, can be found in the following bibli-
lows without regard for rank and privilege.
ography of sources available at the Rockefeller
Men from all strata of society would meet,
Library.
mingle, and
exchange
information
and
Aubertin- Potter, Norma. Oxford Coffee Houses, 1651 - 1800.
opinions.
Oxford, 1987.
The coffeehouse rules often prohibited
Clayton, Antony. London's Coffee Houses: A Stimulating
Story. London, 2003.
Cowan, Brian. The Social Life of Coffee. New Haven and
such activities as gambling, swearing, quar-
relling, and mourning over a lost love.
One London coffeehouse was so popular
London, 2005.
Ellis, Aytoun. The Penny Universities: A History of the Cof-
with shippers, captains, and the underwrit-
feehouses. London, 1956.
ers who insured their voyages that the pro-
newsletter and posting a chart of arrivals
Goodwin, Mary. The Coffeehouse of the 17th and 18th Centuries. Williamsburg, Va., 1956.
Hattox, Ralph S. Coffee and Coffeehouses: The Origins of a
and departures. Long after Lloyd' s death,
Social Beverage in the Medieval Near East. Seattle, Wash.,
prietor, Edward Lloyd, began circulating a
1985.
the underwriters who still frequented his
Lillywhite, Bryant. London Coffee Houses: A Reference Book
coffeehouse banded together to form the
of the Seventeenth, Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries.
insurance firm known today as Lloyd's of
London, 1963.
London.
Wild, Antony. Coffee: A Dark History. New York 2004.
w
HA 06 5334792 Interpreter- Summer23
23
0
6/ 30/06
4:07:40 PM
�The Colonial Williamsburg Interpreter
24
In Time Tears Down Many Old Landmarks,
Parke Rouse notes, " Little England on Hampton
Creek was the home of Hampton's wealthy Balfour family, who intermarried with the Blairs of
Williamsburg. Their onetime plantation house
stood near the former Queen Street Bridge
fronting a deep water dock." Thomas Everard' s
daughter Frances visited there to recover her
health.
An obituary in Purdie' s Virginia Gazette, April
14, 1775 reports:
James Balfour, Esq. at Little England near
Hampton; an agent for the house of Mess.
Hanbury & Co. of London. To whom he
was a most faithful servant, and executed
Q& A
his trust with the ease and politeness of a
gentleman. He was an agreeable compan-
Question: Was voting compulsory in early Vir-
ion, a steady friend, had a very humane
ginia?
and benevolent heart, and no man wished
Answer: Technically, yes. By law, all freeholders
better to the cause of America, or had a
higher sense of liberty in general.
were required to vote in the county in which
they held property. In 1662, the penalty for not
voting was set at 200 pounds of tobacco. After
Exactly three months later, a notice of the
estate sale appeared:
1785, the penalty was increased to an amount
To be sold on Thursday the 27th instant
July) at Little England, near Hampton, the
remaining part of the personal estate of Mr.
James Balfour, deceased, consisting of house
hold and kitchen furniture (among which are
equal to one -fourth of the individual' s levies and
taxes for the year.
These laws seem never to have been effec-
tively enforced, however. In a couple of documented instances where freeholders who had not
ti
several good feather beds, and some plate)
voted were presented to a grand jury, either the
plantation utensils, Negroes, and sundry
county court or the governor dismissed the cases.
other articles. The Negroes have been al-
Voters before and after the Revolution cited inconvenience, weather, and distance to the polls
together brought up to housework, and are
complete servants. Credit will be allowed till
as reasons for not attending elections.
At the beginning of the nineteenth century,
the 10th day of October next, the purchasers giving bond with approved security; the
bonds to bear interest from the date, if not
punctually discharged at the day.
St. George Tucker generalized, " Except on some
great occasion where a contest may happen,
between influential persons, the whole body of
freeholders in a county, rarely, perhaps, never,
Daniel Barraud, admin.
The text of the Historic Marker for the
attend." ( Source: Charles S. Sydnor, Gentlemen
Freeholders: Political Practices in Washington' s Vir-
plantation site provides the last bit of available
information:
ginia [ Chapel Hill, N.C., 19521.)
Little England
Question: In a November 1774 letter to Scottish
In 1634, Capps Point, later known as
merchant Charles Steuart, Virginia loyalist James
Little England, was patented by William
Parker of Norfolk described the " liberty pole" incident in Williamsburg ( a near tarring-and-feathering) and the forced signing of the Continental
Association by Virginia merchants meeting in the
Capps, a prominent planter who maintained a lucrative salt works. He served as
a burgess in the 1619 General Assembly,
the first representative legislative body in
the New World. On 25 June 1813, during
the War of 1812, British Admiral George
Cockburn sailed into the mouth of Hamp-
capital. Parker noted the tactics of someone called
Little England ...
a mighty man in forwarding
this, preaching up the terrible consequences of
refusal." Who was " Little England "?
ton River and shelled Hampton. A comple-
Answer: " Little England" seems to have been
James Balfour of Hampton, Virginia. Gene
ment of 450 Virginia militiamen tried in
vain to hold the British at bay with several
Mitchell, supervisor of the Thomas
small cannons mounted in the fortification
Everard
at Little England.
House, offers these tidbits:
HA 06 5334792 Interpreter- Summer24
24
0
6/ 30/06
4:07:42 PM
�M
Vol. 27, No. 2, Summer 2006
25
The absence of documentation makes it dif-
ficult to know whether any slaves who joined
Dunmore were induced to return to their mas-
ters by the publication of the Convention's offer
of exemption from the death penalty. Slaves who
might have considered returning still faced considerable uncertainty about
the consequences
they might suffer at the hands of masters.
Question: How fast was the rise in inflation of
paper currency that was issued to finance the
Revolution? Why couldn' t it be controlled?
Answer: The paper currency issued by Congress
first in 1775 ( and later by the individual states)
began to lose its face value almost immediately
upon printing. Congress' s " Continentals," as
they were called had no backing in gold or silver,
but were, in theory, backed by the anticipation
of tax revenues and redeemable only after the
former colonies won their independence.
Charles Steuart' s portrait ( CWF 1956- 495) was
Easily counterfeited and with no solid backing, the notes quickly lost value, giving rise to the
painted during the third quarter of the eighteenth century, either in America or Britain.
phrase " not worth a Continental." Even George
Washington was heard to say, " A wagonload of
Continentals will hardly purchase a wagonload
Question: In mid November of 1775, when
Lord Dunmore published his proclamation offer-
of provisions."
ing freedom to slaves willing to flee their masters and join him, was there any sort of official
response by the Virginia Convention?
This uncertainty created a deep distrust of
paper money, an enduring theme in the evolu-
tion of American paper money. The Revolution-
w
Answer: On December 14, 1775, a month after
Dunmore' s proclamation,
w
ary period marked the first time that the value
of American currency was derived solely from its
the Fourth Virginia
Convention adopted and published its own dec-
purchasing power, as it is today.
laration, hoping to induce the voluntary return of
Little could be done to shore up the value of
paper currency. Some colonial and continental
notes were engraved and printed by prominent
statesmen and Revolutionary heroes, such as
slaves who had left their masters. The meat of the
document— in essence a reprieve from the Act of
Assembly that prescribed death for slaves who rebelled or fomented insurrection —read as follows:
Benjamin Franklin and Paul Revere, to give it
credibility, but the public' s distrust persisted.
Most currencies were issued with a date by
which time they were to be redeemed for gold or
We think it proper to declare, that all slaves
who have been, or shall be seduced, by his
lordship's proclamation or other arts, to
desert their masters' service, and take up
silver specie or replaced with a new paper issue,
arms against the inhabitants of this colony,
but neither the Congress nor the states had gold
shall be liable to such punishment as shall
hereafter be directed by the General Con-
or silver with which to buy them back from the
bearers. Neither were there any banks with re-
vention. And to the end that all such, who
serves of specie to ameliorate the situation. Even
have taken this unlawful and wicked step,
may return in safety to their duty, and
after France began sending specie to America in
1778, the supply was insufficient to make a real
escape the punishment due to their crimes,
difference.
we hereby promise pardon to them, they
surrendering themselves to col. William
Woodford, or any other commander of our
John J. McCusker, in an article titled " How
Much Is That in Real Money ?" ( roceedings of the
P
American Antiquarian Society 101 [ 19911: 297)
troops, and not appearing in arms after
gives a picture of inflation rates in various states
the publication hereof. And we do farther
earnestly recommend it to all human and
benevolent persons in this colony to explain
and make known this our offer of mercy to
during the Revolution and summarizes the rapid
devaluation of Virginia paper money. Virginia
currency issued by Act of Assembly in October
1776 was so devalued by January 1777 that it
took 150 paper dollars to buy 100 silver dollars.
those unfortunate people.
HA 06 5334792 Interpreter- Summer25
25
0
6/ 30/06
4:07:43 PM
�MEM
26
The Colonial Williamsburg Interpreter
400 to 100; by 1779, 800 to 100; by 1780, 4, 200
to 100; and by 1781, 7, 500 to 100.
In the absence of any other solution to infla-
the General Assembly passed An act declaring
what shall be a lawful marriage for " encouraging
marriages and for removing doubts concerning
the validity of marriages celebrated by ministers,
tion, states began in mid -1779 to attempt to
other than the church of England."
control commodity prices, with limited success.
The law went on to say that " it shall and
may be lawful for any minister of any society or
congregation of christians, and for the society
By January 1778, the ratio of paper to specie was
In 1780, Congress repudiated its worthless paper
money. Virginia followed suit in 1781. (
Kelly, historian, Research Department)
Kevin
of christians
called quakers and menonists,
to
celebrate the rights of matrimony, and to join
Question: Who officiated at marriages in Vir-
together as man and wife, those who may apply
ginia during the Revolution? Isn't there something about marriages performed by dissenting
ministers not being legal?
to them agreeable to the rules and usage of the
respective societies to which the parties to be
married respectively belong, and such marriage
as well as those heretofore celebrated by dissenting ministers, shall be, and they are hereby declared good and valid in law." ( Hening's Statutes,
Answer: Let' s take a step back into pre -1776
Virginia. Marriages performed by dissenting ministers before 1776 were not legal because Virginia
law at the time required that a minister of the
10: 361 - 362.) ( Linda Rowe, historian, Research
established ( state) Church of England officiate
Department)
at weddings.
William Gooch in the late 1740s gave Presbyte-
Question: Did allied French forces begin leaving
Virginia immediately after Cornwallis' s surren-
rian minister Samuel Davies of Hanover County
der at Yorktown?
permission to marry members of his congregations, although the fee established by law for officiating at weddings did not go to Davies. That
ters in Williamsburg through July 1782. The now
In the only known exception to this rule, Gov.
Answer: The French established winter quar-
well known Frenchman's Map of 1782 was a billeting map drawn by French engineers to aid in
identifying quarters for troops wintering over in
fee continued to be paid to the minister of the
local parish church even though he did not take
w
part in these Presbyterian weddings.
Virginia after the siege at Yorktown. (Accommo-
Fast -forward to 1776. Dissenters took the
free exercise"
wording
of article
sixteen
of
Gloucester, Jamestown, and West Point.)
Virginia' s Declaration of Rights at face value,
See The Revolutionary Journal of Baron Ludwig
Von Closen, 1780 - 1783, edited by Evelyn M.
even though the Declaration actually spoke only
of the freedom to worship as one chose without
Acomb ( Chapel Hill, N.C., 1958) for an account
fear of the authorities. It did not address — and
of experiences in Williamsburg before and after
the siege, including social activities. For an indepth analysis of the dating and purpose of the
Frenchman's Map, see Alan Simpson's The Mysteries of the " Frenchman's Map" of Williamsburg,
Virginia ( Williamsburg, Va., 1984). ( Linda Rowe)
therefore left in place— mandatory parish taxes
and other civil restrictions on dissenters.
Dissenters' pleas, in the form of petitions to
the General Assembly, did not fall on deaf ears,
however. Beginning in 1776, the assembly annually suspended the requirement that dissenters
pay parish levies.
Q & A was compiled by Bob Doares, training specialist in the Department of Interpretive Training.)
Delegates addressed other grievances, such
as marriage laws, during the war years. In 1780,
HA 06 5334792 Interpreter- Summer26
26
ti
dations were also sought at Yorktown, Hampton,
0
6/ 30/06
4:07:44 PM
�0
Vol. 27, No. 2, Summer 2006
New Titles in the
attention to the anti tax movement that helped
Rockefeller Library
shape the American Revolution, specifically the
protests against the Stamp Act and how they led
to the subsequent rebellion. Hugh Kenrick, the
Choosing Revolution and
Revolutionary City
hero of volume two, becomes a burgess in the
Virginia legislature and leads the charge to push
American liberty asserted: or British tyranny reprobated: in a discourse, delivered on Wednesday, the
22d day of April, 1778, to the officers and soldiers of
General Woodford's brigade, by Fitzhugh Mackay,
chaplain. Lancaster [ Pa.]: Printed by Francis Bailey, near the Court House., [ 1778] Early American
a series of resolutions to repeal the Stamp Act.
Howard, Robert A., and E. Alvin Gerhardt Jr.
Mary Patton: Powder Maker of the Revolution.
Rocky Mount, N.C.: Rocky Mount Historical
Association, 1980. E207. P35 H69 1980
Imprints, Series I: Evans, 1639 - 1800, Digital text:
This short publication tells the story of Mary
http: /opac.newsbank.com /select /evans /15875
/
McKeehan Patton, who emigrated to Pennsylva-
Woodford' s Brigade of the First Virginia Regi-
nia from England with her parents in the 1760s.
ment spent the winter and early spring at Valley
w
Later she moved to western North Carolina with
Forge. In McKay' s exhortation to the men, he
used a passage from Deuteronomy, "When thou
her husband and children and there established
a powder mill. She is credited with supplying five
goest out to Battle against thine Enemies, and
hundred pounds of gunpowder to the frontiers-
seest Horses and Chariots, and a People more
ti
men who won the Battle of King' s Mountain.
Following the short biography of Mrs. Patton is
than thou, be not afraid of them; for the Lord
thy God is with thee," and compared the Continental forces to the people of Israel battling for
an illustrated description of how black powder is
made. Unfortunately, there are no footnotes for
the Promised Land.
further research.
By His Excellency the Right Honourable John Earl
of Dunmore, His Majesty' s lieutenant and governourgeneral of the colony and dominion of Virginia, and
vice admiral of the same: a proclamation. As I have
Enslaving Virginia
ever entertained hopes that an accommodation might
gotten Story of Robert Carter, the Founding Father
Levy, Andrew. The First Emancipator: The For-
have taken place between Great Britain and this col-
Who Freed His Slaves. New York: Random House,
ony ...
I do, in virtue of the power and authority
to me given, by His Majesty, determine to execute
2005. F229.C34 L485 2005
martial law. ...
Given under my hand, on board
the ship William, off Norfolk, the 7th day of No-
freed his slaves and wonders why his unprece-
vember, in the 16th year of His Majesty' s reign.
history of the American abolition movement. At
The author marvels that Robert Carter III
dented action hasn't been more celebrated in the
Broadside, Norfolk, Va.: From the press of John
a time when southern landowners such as Wash-
H. Holt &
Co., 1775] Early American Imprints,
Series I: Evans, 1639 - 1800, Digital text: http: //
ington and Jefferson deplored slavery in theory,
Robert Carter changed his way of life in order to
free some five hundred slaves. Levy focuses on
the development of Carter' s thinking and relationship with his slaves as reflected in his writ-
opac. newsbank.com / elect /evans /14592
s
An image of the famous broadside declaring
slaves who take up arms for England will earn
their freedom.
ings. For more information on the freed slaves,
see John R. Barden's 1993 dissertation, " Flushed
Cline, Edward. Sparrowhawk. Book Four: Empire.
with Notions of Freedom." E445. V8, E24.
San Francisco, Calif.: MacAdam /
Cage, 2004. PS
3553. L544 S627 2004
In the fourth book of his American Revolution series, Yorktown author Ed Cline turns his
HA 06 5334792 Interpreter- Summer27
27
McCartney, Martha W A Study of the Africans
and African Americans on Jamestown Island and at
Green Spring, 1619 - 1803. Williamsburg, Va.: The
0
6/ 30/06
4:07:45 PM
�28
The Colonial Williamsburg Interpreter
Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 2003. F234
try. Using primary sources, the authors critically
J3 M334 2003
evaluate the stories that have grown up around
This carefully documented narrative complements McCartney' s earlier work on Jamestown
Documentary History of Jamestown Island, Ref
the man. Black and white pictures of his furni-
F234 . J3 M333 2000]. She discusses the slave
trade at Jamestown, the legal status of Africans,
Cowan, Brian William. The Social Life of Coffee:
ture testify to his style and craftsmanship.
The Emergence of the British Coffeehouse. New
Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2005.
and the role of slaves in the success of the Vir-
ginia colony. The appendices include lists of
slaves belonging to the Amblers ( 1768) and the
TX908 . C68 2005
Ludwells ( 1767) and an index of data files owned
integral to British life of the eighteenth century?
How did a foreign brew like coffee become so
by the Colonial National Historical Park, which
lists documentary sources for African Americans,
Cowan explores the economics, the medicinal
value, the controversies, and the political and
Native Americans, and indentured servants.
intellectual life surrounding the drink. Reading
this is sure to send you to Shields Tavern for a
Slavery and the Making of America. New York,
cup of hot coffee, conversation, and possibly,
N.Y.: Ambrose Video Pub., 2005. E441. S538. 4
sedition.
DVDs:
v. 1. The Downward Spiral, Dante J. James, direc-
Taking Possession
tor / roducer /
p
writer. Morgan Freeman narrator.
MacKercher, Daniel. A memorial relating to the
v. 2. Liberty in the Air, Gail Pellett, director / rop
tobacco- trade: Offer' d to the consideration of the
ducer / riter. Morgan Freeman narrator.
w
planters of Virginia and Maryland. Williamsburg
v. 3. Seeds of Destruction, Chana Gazit, director/
Va.]:
Printed by William Parks, MDCCXXXVII.
1737] Early American Imprints, Series I: Evans,
1639 - 1800, Digital text: http: / opac.newsbank.
/
producer /
writer. Morgan Freeman narrator.
v. 4. The Challenge of Freedom, Leslie D. Farrell, director / roducer / riter. Morgan Freeman narrator.
p
w
com /select / vans /4154
e
MacKercher introduces his plan for stream-
One of the first films purchased by the Library in DVD format, this series produced by
lining and expediting the tobacco trade for the
PBS describes the contributions of slaves to the
w
purpose of increasing efficiency and profit.
building of the United States. Dante J. James' s
film, based on James Oliver Horton's book of the
Restoring Southern Gardens and Landscape Con-
same title, is a splendid overview of the subject,
ference. ( 13th: 2001, Winston Salem, N.C.) Cul-
made all the more accessible by concentrating
tivating History: Exploring Horticultural Practices
of the Southern Gardener. Winston Salem, N.C.:
on the human stories of the people involved.
For instance, blacks wrote petitions questioning
how whites could talk of not being " slaves" to
the British, while keeping slaves themselves. Of
The Conference, 2001. SB16 . U6 R47 2001
Missed the conference? Learn interesting bits
of information on gardening based on documentary and physical evidence from this enjoyable
course, these petitions were dismissed. The on-
air scholarsJames Oliver Horton, Thomas J.
collection of articles. Included are Davyd Foard
Davis, Ira Berlin, Norrece T Jones Jr., and Peter
Hood' s "' Their garden was of moderate size,
well laid off ... ': Historic Southern Gardens in
H. Wood —are articulate and interesting.
Letters, Journals, and Travel Accounts "; Terry
Buying Respectability
Yemm's " Practical Gardening: The Method of Pro-
Barfield, Rodney, and Patricia M. Marshall.
ceeding"; Stephen Mankowski' s " Well Wrought:
Thomas Day: African-American Furniture Maker.
Making Garden Tools from Iron and Steel "; and
Raleigh: North Carolina Office of Archives and
Pat Gibbs' s '
History, 2005. NK2439 . D38 B37 2005
Two articles about Thomas Day originally
Gardens in the Eighteenth Century."
published in the North Carolina Historical Review
VerBoon, Caitlin, and Thomas H. Taylor. Historic
are reprinted in this volume. He was born in
Area Graveyard Study. Colonial Williamsburg
1801 to a free land holding family in Virginia
Foundation Research Report, 2005. F234 . W7
and became a master furniture maker in Milton,
North Carolina. As a free black, he was educated, ran a successful furniture business, was an
active member of the Presbyterian Church, and
Little spots allow' d them': Slave
R47 no. 383 [ Also available on the Colonial
Williamsburg Intranet http://intranet/architectcollect/ arch_ collections _
mgmt /
completed_rpts/
conservation _
rpts /conservation_reports.htm]
owned slaves. He is considered by many to be the
The staff of the Architectural Collections
founder of the modern southern furniture indus-
Department photographed and transcribed the
HA 06 5334792 Interpreter- Summer28
28
0
6/ 30/06
4:07:46 PM
�MEM
Vol. 27, No. 2, Summer 2006
29
markers and diagrammed the layout of seven
Second Protest, with a List of the Voters against the
Bill to repeal the American Stamp Act, of Last Session ( Paris: J. W. Imprimeur [ i.e., London: John
Almon], 1766). This protest was raised following
a reading in Parliament of the " Bill for applying
certain Stamp Duties in the British Colonies and
family graveyards located at the following properties: Coke -Garrett House, Custis Tenement,
Secretary' s Office, Taliaferro -Cole House, Benjamin Waller House, Williamsburg Inn pool site,
and the Wren Crypt.
Plantations in America." The book warns that
Submitted by Juleigh Muirhead Clark, public services librarian, John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library.
passage of the law will justify those in America
and Britain who have termed similar acts as
instances of tyranny and oppression. It also
New Items in the John D.
warns that the almost certain uprising against
such an act will lead to a conflict impossible to
Rockefeller Jr. Library' s
win. The topic, with its implied criticism of the
Special Collections
English government, was so controversial that
An Essay on Hunting ( London: J. Roberts, 1733).
a fictitious place of publication and publisher on
the London printer, for his own protection, gave
the title page.
This book, by a " country squire," laments the
decline in popularity of the pursuit of game and
decries the degeneracy of the age in its neglect of
Williamsburg, Virginia: A Brief Study in Photographs
Williamsburg, Va.: The Colonial Williamsburg
Foundation, 1939). Among the early publications produced by Colonial Williamsburg, this
collection of images by New York photographer
this " manly sport." Among the many benefits of
the chase, the author gives first place to the enhancement of health. Topics include huntsmen,
horses, hounds, game, and scent.
Richard Garrison shows the varied fields of in-
Sharp, William (ed.). Great English Painters ( Lon-
such as architecture, decoration, arts and crafts,
times through the era of Holbein. The work also
w
terest embraced by the Restoration at that time,
don: Walter Scott, 1886). The editor traces the
development of art in England from earliest
tioned as specific areas of interest to be found in
includes selected biographies from Allan Cun-
the restored city.
horticulture, and scholarly pursuits are menti
ningham' s Lives of Eminent British Painters, with
chapters devoted to William Hogarth, Richard
Submitted by George Yetter, associate curator for the
Wilson, Joshua Reynolds, Thomas
architectural drawings and research collections, John
Gainsbor-
D. Rockefeller Jr. Library.
ough, and William Blake.
HA 06 5334792 Interpreter- Summer29
29
0
6/ 30/06
4:07:47 PM
�NM
30
The Colonial Williamsburg Interpreter
Editor' s Notes
In her article, " Seeing Double," in the Spring 2006 issue on the Department of Collections' two Dunmore miniatures, Barbara Luck was unable to say why Lord and Lady
Dunmore moved to the area of Ramsgate, Isle of Thanet, Kent, in later life. Interpreter Terry
Yemm has pointed out that their daughter Lady Augusta was already living there, a fact that
undoubtedly contributed to the couple' s decision.
Also, readers may need clarification regarding the two illustrated miniatures. Miniature
A' (shown on the left in the more ornate frame) was purchased from a dealer. Miniature " B"
illustrated on the right in the plainer frame) was a partial gift of a descendant of the subject
in memory of Henry Alexander Murray, with residual acquisition costs funded by John A.
Hyman and Betty C. Leviner.
Miniature A
Miniature B
w
HA 06 5334792 Interpreter- Summer30
30
6/ 30/06
4:07:48 PM
�Vol. 27, No. 2, Summer 2006
31
Publication of
this issue of the Interpreter
was made possible
by a gift from
James H. and Sherry P. Hubbard
of Severna Park, Maryland
w
The Colonial Williamsburg Interpreter is published
three times a year by the Historic Area
Division.
Editor:
Nancy Milton
Copy Editor:
Mary Ann E Williamson
Assistant Editor: Linda Rowe
Editorial Board: Cary Carson
Ron Hurst
Betty Leviner
Emma L. Powers
Planning Board: Laura Arnold, Harvey Bakari,
Bertie Byrd, Bob Doares,
Jan Gilliam, Wesley Greene,
John Turner, Ron Warren,
Pete Wrike
Production:
The Print Production
Services Department
Diana Freedman
2006 The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. All rights
reserved. All images are the property of The Colonial Williamsburg
Foundation, unless otherwise noted.
HA 06 5334792 Interpreter- Summer3l
31
W
6/ 30/06
4:07:48 PM
�E
NE
A CrILrINI.4L WILLAAM511UPS ADVENT1; 11I3
EVOLUTIONAR
HA 06 5334792 Interpreter- Summer32
32
0
6/ 30/06
4:07:49 PM
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Colonial Williamsburg Interpreter
Description
An account of the resource
<p><em>The Colonial Williamsburg Interpreter</em> was a newsletter published July 1980-September 2009 by the education and research departments of Colonial Williamsburg and authored mainly by staff researchers and interpreters. Its purpose was to disseminate information germane to the current interpretive focus of the Historic Area uniformly across the various departments involved with historical interpretation. Some of the articles sprang from the need to impart new research or interpretive information to staff while others were inspired by employee questions or suggestions. In the earlier issues, standard sections include “The King’s English” which explained various words or terminology encountered in 18th century life, “Occurrences” which noted different programs and events of interest to employees and visitors, and “The Exchange” which was a guest column that offered the perspective and knowledge of non-research department employees on various subjects. Later issues had regular columns about historical subjects, archaeology, gardening, new books at the Foundation library, “Cook’s Corner” about foodways, “Interpreter’s Corner” concerning issues of interpretation, and a Q & A section. The number of issues published per year varied as did the length of the newsletter.</p>
<p>Several supplemental publications sprang from the Interpreter including <em>Fresh Advices, Questions & Answers</em>, and A<em> Cultural Time Line & Glossary for Williamsburg in the Eighteenth Century</em>. Fresh Advices offered discussions of recent research conducted by the Foundation and opportunities for applying it in the Historic Area. It was published infrequently from 1981-1987. <em>Questions & Answers</em> began and ended as a column in the <em>Interpreter</em>, but also existed as a supplemental publication from 1980-1989. It functioned as a means to answer common interpreter questions to the research department about eighteenth-century history and culture, Williamsburg area history, and Colonial Williamsburg itself. The one-time 1990 publication <em>A Cultural Time Line & Glossary for Williamsburg in the Eighteenth Century</em> consisted of a oversize poster-sized timeline and a glossary booklet. The time line included notable events in the Age of Enlightenment in the categories of politics, philosophy and religion, education, science and technology, fine arts and architecture, and performing arts and literature. The glossary was an expansion on selected entries from the time line to give more information on people and events that directly or indirectly influenced the development of colonial Virginia society.</p>
<p>An index to the <em>Interpreter</em> and its supplemental publications may be found here: <a href="http://research.colonialwilliamsburg.org/library/_files/Interpreter.pdf">Colonial Williamsburg Interpreter Index, 1980-2009</a>.</p>
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
The Colonial Williamsburg Interpreter, volume 27, number 2, Summer 2006
Description
An account of the resource
We Were There: The Revolution In Their Own Words -- "Uncommon Merit ": Edmund Dickinson in the American Revolution -- Arts & Mysteries: Humphrey Harwood: Builder of the Original "Revolutionary City" -- William and Arthur Lee, America's First Spies -- Patrick Henry: First Governor of the Commonwealth -- The Bothy’s Mould: Tall Tales: A Cultural History of North American Trees part 1 -- Cook’s Corner: Coffeehouses: The Starbucks of the Eighteenth Century -- Questions and Answers -- Bruton Heights Update: New at the Rock: New Titles in the Rockefeller Library -- New Items in the John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Library's Special Collection -- Editor’s Notes